Three Sugars
by oeuvre24
Summary: HIATUS: Draco Malfoy's coffee break is his third favourite time of the day. Hermione Granger deciding her coffee break was at that time was a reason to change the position of his break in terms of where it ranked. Higher or lower, though...he wasn't quite sure.
1. Chapter 1

Coffee break. A very close third in the position of Draco's favourite times of the day, only followed by lunch break in second place and the end of his shift in first place. He stood in line to get his regular order (a long black) from the small coffee and tea cart in the atrium of the Ministry - a hidden gem in his opinion compared to the normal staff cafeteria's 'cups of bitter piss' as he liked to refer to the coffee made there.

Two minutes later he had ordered and another three minutes and twenty seconds after that, Draco had his coffee in his hand and took it to one of two small tables that were in front of the cart. Many Ministry workers took their coffees to go whereas Draco liked to savour his break from sitting behind a desk, by sitting on a hard metal chair with a coffee in his hand. The other table was occupied by three greasy looking men, each wearing the small yellow name badges on the pocket of the left breast of their shirts, indicating to Draco that they were interns. He sneered as their raucous laughing disrupted his third favourite time of the day and he would have left if he wasn't so strict to hold traditions - if you could call sitting with a coffee for ten minutes a tradition.

"Save everyone else from looking at that expression and cast a silencing charm," Hermione Granger said as she walked up to his table.

Draco's sneer turned to an expression of confusion and then irritation for having yet another person interrupt his quiet musings. "What do you want?" He asked her. He quite often saw her waltzing around the Ministry like she owned the place; and in due respect, she did hold quite a worthy position. At the 'tender age of twenty eight' according to the Daily Prophet, Hermione Granger had been given the title _Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation_ , something that was proudly brandished on a gold name plate on her office door, a small name plaque on her desk and on her own name badge she pinned to the outside of her robes. A year on from acquiring the position and her badge still shone like it was newly made.

"Sugar," she answered quite simply. He was about to question her ridiculous answer when he saw that his table had a small cup in the centre holding small wooden stirring sticks and sugar tubes, three of which were taken by her. "I rather like this coffee cart. Only found out about it two weeks ago, mind you," she spoke, but she may as well been talking to herself as Draco was only focused on one thing.

" _Three_ sugars?" He asked incredulously as she ripped the top of the first sugar tube and poured it straight into what Draco knew was a latte.

"Ah, you can count. Never would have taken you to be so clever," she responded sarcastically, ripping open the other two sugar tubes to pour into her coffee and then stir with one of the small wooden sticks.

Draco ignored the jibe as he took a sip of his own sugar-free coffee. "You might as well be drinking that carbonated soda rubbish with that amount of sugar. That," he motioned towards her coffee, "Can hardly be good for you."

"Worried about my health now, are you?" She questioned with a sly smile as she took a sip of her coffee which made Draco screw his face. He'd never had sugar in coffee. "I have a coffee maybe three times a week, you can settle down now," she rolled her eyes and then took the seat across from him. "Can I sit?" She asked.

"Asking the question after you've already given yourself an answer is quite pointless" he drawled but didn't bother to kick her off. He could…tolerate her. Over the past nine years that he'd been working at the Ministry, he'd worked with Hermione several times. As he was a solicitor in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, his help was often sought to approve different proposals of hers and to make sure they were consistent with the other Ministries she was seeking to collaborate with. The first time they had worked together she spoke the majority of the time, outlining her plan on trying to gain more overseas interns from different Ministry's of Magic. Draco had only taken notes and just as she'd stood from the chair at his desk to leave, he looked up and made eye contact with her.

 _"Why did you choose to work with me? There are plenty of other solicitors that have been working with your department for years. I just finished my own internship," he said. He would later reflect to realise that was the first time he'd spoken more than a few words to her without malice._

 _Hermione shrugged a shoulder and held her folder against her stomach, holding it. "It's time I got over my preconceptions of you. It has been three years since the War - I think we've both changed enough to realise that things are different now and they should be different between us too. A better difference."_

 _He stared at her and nodded once. He stood from his chair and extended his hand to her. "I look forward to working with you, Granger," he said to her civilly, his version of an apology of sorts._

 _She'd stared at him before adjusting her folder and shook his hand. "And you, Malfoy."_

Hermione took another drink of her coffee and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "Are you still working on the Roach case?" She made conversation.

Draco merely nodded and looked off to the side to people-watch. Witches and wizards rushed in all directions, entering and exiting fireplaces, heading to lifts or offices. "How's your case going?" He asked since he knew she had been focusing in particular on bringing a test case to do with new legislation providing stricter checks on previously charged witches and wizards and their movement between England and other countries. This had come after a recent spike in the amount of illegal potions, animals and dark artefacts entering and leaving England in the last nine months.

"You know as well as I do I can't talk about a case like this freely," she responded. He simply nodded, still not having looked at her. "But it's been going well either way."

Despite the neutral conversation they'd been having, Draco looked back at her and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you sitting here? This is my table during my coffee break."

Hermione, who had in part being hoping for some sort of normal conversation, rolled her eyes for the second time since she'd came over. "I've decided I should start having coffee breaks," she answered. "And I needed sugar for my coffee. The other table doesn't have any sugar sticks but this does. You had a free seat, I've been running around mad all morning, so I sat. Does that quell your interest?"

"I had no interest," he responded. "I just hate having my morning coffee break interrupted and it already was with those three baboons back there," he glared over her shoulder at the table of interns, not bothering to keep his voice low. "And you have completely ruined my peace by sitting at my table."

"Step down from the clouds, Malfoy - it isn't _your_ table," Hermione snorted and then drank some more coffee. "I'll be gone in…eight minutes," she said after she checked her watch. "Can you live that long with me in such close proximity without a case between us?"

"I don't know, I'd hoped the opportunity to find out never came up."

Despite him wanting to produce a negative reaction from her to get her to leave, Hermione did no such thing and simply laughed. Over the years their relationship had gone from indifference to accepting upon their first meeting in the Ministry, to snarky and sarcastic remarks in the years following instead of demeaning and callous statements that had been made during their time in Hogwarts. She could easily work with him, having been surprised nine years ago to find that they shared many similar views on their jobs and the necessity of reforming the Ministry to be a place of justice and fairness, not being incompetent or corrupt as it had proven itself to be in the years prior to 1997. He still managed to irritate her to no end, and he had spoken on many occasions - including now - alluding to how he still wasn't overly fond of her company outside of working together.

Hermione drank some more of her coffee and spotted the blonde staring at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Are you really still worked up about th—"

" _Three_ sugars," he shook his head. "Your parents are teeth healers, right? They wouldn't be pleased with that."

She was surprised he'd remembered her parents occupation as she didn't remember telling him at any stage. "Are you sure you aren't one of my parents right now?" She scoffed. "Why do you care how much sugar I drink with my coffee?"

"I don't," he replied. "What I care about right now is the fact that you're sitting at my table disrupting my coffee break," he changed the subject. He looked at his watch. One minute. Sighing, he finished the rest of his coffee which he'd been steadily nursing for the past five minutes. He stood up when his coffee cup was empty. "I would say nice seeing you, but it really wasn't." Those were his parting words to Hermione as he ditched his coffee cup in the nearest rubbish bin and had heard her light laugh and could visualise in his head how she would most likely be rolling here eyes. He headed to the lifts to go back to his office and when he was inside, let out a frustrated sigh.

His second favourite time of the day better exceed his expectations to make up for the last ten minutes.

—

The next day, the time of Draco's coffee break rolled around again and he stood from his desk. As always when he left his office he ensured a locking charm was applied to his door. He ignored the eyes of everyone he walked past, purely because he wasn't in the mood for stopping during this precious time to talk about useless things such as the weather, or what the other person was doing that weekend; things he simply did not care about. He got to the elevators and pushed the button, waiting for it to arrive. The doors opened seconds later and he sighed in annoyance. The sigh caught the attention of the only occupant in the lift and she lifted her gaze up from the stack of papers in her hands. "You better not be going where I think you are," Draco said bluntly as he stepped in the lift and pushed the button for the atrium level, grabbing onto the handle at the side.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news."

"You can sit at the other table then," Draco said, staring straight ahead.

"Oh, Malfoy… You really must be delusional if you think I'm going to follow such requests of yours," she responded and stepped forward as the lift doors opened to the large atrium. "I'll sit wherever I please." With that, she strode out of the lift, back as straight as a broomstick and headed towards the coffee cart. The start to Draco's coffee break wasn't turning out to be a good one and he grit his teeth as he walked to the cart too. _'Thank Merlin'_ he thought as he followed her and saw the tables were free. Just as he got close to the line however, a group of three who had just received their orders, took one table, leaving only one free, and Granger was the only person in line. Draco had a right grumble to himself as he stood behind her, glaring at her hair that was pulled back into a bushy ponytail, because he _knew_ that she was going to sit at 'his' table.

Sure enough, as easily predicted as the sky being blue, after Hermione received her coffee, she made a bee-line straight to the table. Draco muttered a few unsavoury words under his breath and took his coffee once it was made. He wasn't about to break tradition, nor was he going to go back to his office like a petulant child who didn't know how to share. He sat in the other chair at the table and took a sip of his coffee and glared at her as she started to pour her sugar in.

One. Two. Three tubes.

"Not going to make a remark on my sugar intake, Malfoy?"

"Believe me, I'm doing it in my head," Draco responded and took a drink of his own coffee. The two sat in silence for a few minutes until he brought up what he'd thought about yesterday upon returning to his office. "In the nine years I've worked here, not once have I changed my coffee break time and not _once_ have I seen you taking a break at this time during those years," he said and leant forward with his arms crossed on the table. "Why start now, Granger? Are you determined to mess up my traditions? Mess up one of three highlights of my day?"

Hermione gave him a look which made him sit up straighter and glare over the top of his coffee cup as he took a sip. "A tradition. Really? It's a coffee break, it lasts all of ten minutes and most people skip it because it's such a waste of time. How can it be a highlight of your day?"

"Because I don't have such a thrilling and exciting life as you do, Granger," Draco drawled. "You didn't answer my question, however. Makes me think you're doing this on purpose?"

Hermione had just taken a sip of her drink and had to cover her mouth as she almost laughed. "Don't compliment yourself," she said after she'd swallowed and then laughed. "You were right, nine years of working and you haven't seen me at this time because I never used to take coffee breaks until yesterday."

Draco looked at her like she'd grown another limb. "You'd _never_ taken a coffee break in all nine years you've worked here?" Her answer was a simple shrug and shake of the head. "Wow, Granger. You're more ridiculous than I initially thought you were."

"Unlike you, I happen to enjoy my job tremendously and in the past, taking ten minutes out of every day I worked added up to too much time lost. Now however, I think I've paid my dues and deserve a break now and again."

"But you chose _my_ break time and come to _my_ coffee cart."

"Goodness, Malfoy. You're really starting to live up to the phrase 'only-child-syndrome'," Hermione responded, looking rather annoyed at his constant need to bicker. "I'm ever so sorry I decided to have coffee at this precise time and at this coffee cart," she apologised sarcastically.

Draco merely 'hmphed' and drank more of his coffee in silence. He settled back in his chair and watched people come and go through the atrium and his eyes zoned in on a young, gangly looking male who was rushing towards the table. Draco furrowed his brows as the young man seemed determined in getting towards him while Draco had no idea who he was. When the other man arrived, Draco opened his mouth to demand what he wanted, but he quickly realised that he was after Hermione, not Draco.

"Ms Granger, I've just gotten word back from the French Minister, he wants to arrange a meeting for today," he said breathlessly and passed her a small note.

This tidbit of information made Hermione stand up and put her coffee down to take the note. "Thank you for coming to get me, Michael," she said to the him after reading, and it was only then Draco saw the yellow intern badge. ' _Poor bastard must be her assistant_ ' he thought in his head and smirked, covering it by lifting his coffee to take a drink.

"Not a problem, Ms Granger," Michael answered. The need for validation from his superior was evident to Draco and he snorted quietly and covered it up with a small cough when Hermione and Michael looked his way. Without as much as a goodbye, Michael and Hermione left the table, walking quickly towards the lifts, the former talking at what looked like a million miles an hour.

' _Finally_ ' he thought. He had his table back to himself. With five minutes to go, but still, it was five minutes without Granger. The people from the other table had left and he had a quick look around and eyed the left coffee cup left where Granger had been sitting. Curious to see just what three sugars would taste like, he picked up her cup and wiped his thumb where there was a faint smear of pale lipstick and he took a sip. Immediately he regretted it, and if he were not where he was, he would have spat it out. He followed that sip with a sip of his own _proper_ coffee that didn't taste like it was simply liquid sugar.

—

Draco looked at the clock mounted just above his office door and swore under his breath. Still another hour until he could pack up his things, floo home and spend the night with a good book and a glass of firewhiskey. He snorted wistfully to himself as he realised that's what he did around six out of seven days of the week after work and it made him wonder why he was always so adamant on leaving work being the best part of his day when he was retreating to an equally as boring place. To say Draco Malfoy was bored with his life was an understatement.

For about two years after the commencement of his working life at aged twenty, Draco came home to Astoria Greengrass. As he was still in training to become a qualified solicitor, hours were long and tedious and work was often brought home with him - something Astoria detested. They had both stayed loyal to each other, but what had began at aged twenty for him was not what was left by the time Draco was twenty two and Astoria was twenty one. She wanted to travel, she wanted to see the world and explore, move to a different country and experience everything - food, fashion, sights and attractions. Draco's life was more revolved around legal terms and definitions, learning legislation and struggling to remember precedent from different cases. Astoria wanted love. She wanted Draco to be by her side travelling, for them to live together in a Paris apartment and make love every night, maybe even getting married and having a child sooner rather than later.

The reality of their situation was very different. Draco lived in a townhouse in London, with Astoria staying most nights but he'd never given her a formal invite to live with him. Instead of making love every night, Draco either didn't come to bed or was too tired, and their intimacy spread from being every couple of days, to every couple of weeks. Any mention of marriage to the two of them was greeted with a hopeful smile from Astoria and a displeased grimace from Draco. Although he did not love her, he cared deeply for Astoria and wished her well in every aspect of life. It was her who ended the relationship. The night was filled with tears on her behalf and he took her to his bed for one final time. The split was amicable and it was another three years before he saw her again and ever since then, whenever they came in contact with each other, it was civil, albeit a tiny bit awkward on behalf of both parties.

In the years following his breakup, he'd only allowed one woman to warm his bed. Cassandra Caliente had been a fleeting relationship for a few months when he was twenty five. It would be wrong to call it a relationship however, as they only met up a couple of times a week and she would leave after their business in bed was done. Ever since then, Draco came home alone to an empty house and from his previous experience with partners, he much preferred his house being quiet and him being the only person there. Despite the teasing jabs he would get from some of his friends who were in relationships or married, Draco still felt no desire or pull to be in a relationship again just for the sake of it.

He leaned back in his office chair and turned slightly to look out the window. The London street outside was busy with people on the sidewalks, in their cars, on their bikes or in the few buses that would rumble down the road every so often. "Lucky bastards," he muttered to himself when he thought of all the people on their way home from work. Turning back to his desk, he picked up his quill and signed his name at the bottom of the letter he had just written to his client, arranging a meeting for the coming week. He was hard pressed for time as the next week involved the date of the Ministry Christmas ball, and the week following that he had one week holiday time and another Christmas party organised by his mother. He'd start work again on Christmas day much to his mother's chagrin. He'd never understood people's fascination with Christmas. It may have been due to the fact it was never celebrated for him when he was younger in the way that so many other children experienced. It was all just another day to him and he didn't feel sorry for himself nor wish it any other way.

Just as he pressed the wax seal to his letter, a knock came from the other side of his door. "It's open," he said and looked up to see Hermione come in with a stack of papers in her hands. "You look like you're in an awful flurry," he smirked and sat back in his chair.

Hermione pushed her fringe back from her face and let out a frustrated sigh as she collapsed into the chair at his desk. "I need your help."

"Trying to cut back on sugar?"

"Can you be serious?" She gave him a deadpan look. Draco simply smirked but said no more and she took this as her cue to start. "I'm trying to propose the exchange student program between Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts an—"

"Haven't you been trying to bring this up for f—"

"Five years, yes." Her frustrated look turned crestfallen. "No one wants to take me up on it! Everyone is bringing up arguments here, there and everywhere that there isn't the right insurance for it, or it's too costly or there's no express interest from parents and children when there's never even _been_ any documents written up proposing the idea to families!"

"And you want me to help you getting these things?" Draco asked.

"Please…" Her answer took Draco aback as he'd never heard such a tone from her directed to him.

"Why are you so passionate about this? What do you believe the benefit is?"

"Students _need_ this cultural diversity. If I was given the chance to go to Beauxbatons for a term, I would have jumped for joy! Wouldn't you have wanted to go to Durmstrang if given the opportunity?"

"I—"

"See?!" Hermione said with a large grin, not even listening to his answer. He could see the spark of passion in her eyes. Over the years, Draco had come to realise that whenever Hermione set her sights on a project, she dedicated all her energy to it and always considered every angle _because_ of her passion to make it work. "Giving children the option to transfer their studies to a whole new country opens a huge range of opportunities for them. Think of it this way - if someone from Durmstrang transfers to Hogwarts and sees the beauty that Scotland and England have to offer, and find themselves wanting to immerse themselves in our culture, what's to stop them from wanting to move here once they've graduated? It gives the kids so many more options of what to do with their lives, not confined to the expectations of their teachers or parents." She clasped her hands together, having ditched her papers on his desk. There was a rosy flush high on her cheekbones and Draco had known the moment she'd opened her mouth about her project, that he would help her. He could see her fervour on the topic and he knew with an attitude like that, she was surely going to get her argument heard.

He watched her for a few more seconds than what may be considered normal without speaking, and finally leaned forward with his elbows on his desk. "I'll do it, Granger," he agreed.

"Malfoy, you're a lifesaver." She let out a breath of relief and sat back in the chair.

"You've never said that to me before when I help out with your cases," he commented.

"Every other time, you've been assigned to help me."

"Why choose me?"

"I can't believe I'm going to add more fuel to your ego-fire," Hermione chuckled and sat up again. "You're good at what you do. I wasn't going to go around asking someone else to help me when I know no one will be able to present my arguments as well as you can."

"You flatter me," Draco laughed quietly, but was genuinely appreciative of what she'd said.

"Don't let it get to your head too much," Hermione smiled and stood up from the chair and gathered her papers. "I was thinking we should have a meeting about this as soon as possible."

"Name a time and I'll be there," Draco said.

"I'll send you a memo in about…" She checked her watch. "Twenty minutes?"

"Sounds good."

Hermione walked from his desk and went to his office door about to leave. Just as she was going to shut the door, she poked her head back in. "Thank you. Really, Malfoy."

"Don't mention it," he shrugged and found himself returning her smile with a small quirk of his own lips.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I have ideas set out for future chapters, it's just a matter of writing them out now. Please leave reviews of what you think - constructive criticism is very welcome! Thank you again**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'd just like to say thank you for everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed the first chapter - it really gave me the encouragement I needed to keep writing! I tried to keep the reviews in mind when writing this chapter, so hopefully you all enjoy!**

* * *

Approximately thirty minutes after Hermione had left Draco's office, a memo had been delivered to him.

 _'_ _Meeting tomorrow morning. Does 10-11 a.m sound good to you? Send a note back if not. Informal meeting - I'll be waiting at a coffee cart in the atrium, you might have seen it? Don't worry, I'll have a table organised. H.'_

Her sarcasm was evident at the end of the note and it made him snort a quiet laugh. He put it in the top drawer of his desk and stood up, put on his coat and headed out of his office to finally go home. Unlike most workers in the Ministry who apparated or took the floo network home, Draco took the lift at the visitor's entrance and walked. Granted, his home was only a five minute walk from said entrance as he had bought it with his workplace specifically in mind. The first few months he started working at the Ministry, he always apparated into the atrium purely because he hated walking through the mostly busy streets to get to and from work. It had been Astoria and her more adventurous side that suggested they take more walks through Muggle London together and ever since then, he'd never felt the need to take any form of wizarding transport to anywhere that didn't warrant it. Just like when he walked to his breaks during work, when he was heading downstairs to leave, he never met anyone's eye. He wasn't afraid or embarrassed to look at anyone (like it was first assumed when he first started working), he just _really_ hated stopping and talking to someone who assumed they were friends because they worked in the same place and started talking to him about Such-and-Such, or who was going out with who, or their own children. Other people's affairs ranked very low on the list of 'Things Draco Malfoy Cares About'.

At home, his night was as drab as the winter London weather outside. After having a dinner of microwavable pasta, he'd sat on his couch and read a few chapters of his book, then turned on the television that came with his house, and watched the news. As always. When buying his house, he hadn't looked for the fanciest apartment or the biggest townhouse he could find (much to many people's surprise). He'd looked for a home. Somewhere with a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Somewhere he could go when he finished work, do what he had to do, sleep and continue on the next day. He wasn't looking to fill it with lavish furniture and decoration like the Manor had; it had been a shock to his mother's system when he'd announced to her at aged twenty he was moving out from their family home to live in central London. He could tell Narcissa had been hesitant over the fact that his new home was in a primarily Muggle area - excluding the Ministry's presence - but he also knew she wouldn't dare say anything against it, even to him.

She often visited and brought along a house elf too, to clean the house and make it presentable. Draco wasn't a messy person as such, but he didn't invest as much time into making his home immaculate as he did with his own self. While he left in the morning after spending time in the bathroom making sure his hair sat _just_ so and that his robes were crisp and free of lint. His shoes were never scuffed or dirty looking and he always wore a tie and cufflinks on the white shirt he wore under his robes. While he spent time in the morning getting presentable, he never left his house immaculate - leaving the toaster out and dishes on the counter until he had to clean them that night. Cleaning those dishes was exactly what he did before retiring to bed for the evening, setting his alarm to six-thirty the next morning to be at work by eight.

And another day was done.

—

Draco was determined to arrive early to his meeting with Hermione just so he could brandish a smug smile to her when she came to claim the table that he would already be sitting on. A smirk already graced his features as he walked through the atrium and looked at his watch. 9:48. Perfectly early. He hadn't expected to look up from his watch and see across the atrium, that she was already sitting at the table with a coffee in hand. His smirk quickly turned to a scowl and when he reached the table he sat down without greeting her.

She had a smug smile of her own, the kind he'd wanted to have in being early. "Great! Now you're here, we can start our meeting early," she told him and passed him some papers which he picked up. He still hadn't responded to her and he started to read over everything she'd written.

"Are you sure an hour is going to be long enough for you to tell me about _everything_ you've written on here?" He asked when he'd finished reading some minutes later.

"Of course not," Hermione shook her head. "That's why we'll need to fix more meetings. Regular ones too. With holidays coming up, I'd like to get a move on as when people take their holiday time, I'll have to pick up the slack."

"You don't take time off during the holidays?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's just like any other time of the year," she shrugged. "Right. Back on track. Have you given my proposal any thought?" She asked.

Of course he'd bloody thought about it. It was one of the main things he had been thinking about the night previous. He'd even gone as far to sit at his desk and right notes of what things he wanted to achieve to help her. "You mentioned yesterday in your rambling that none of the parents of students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang—"

"And other Wizarding schools that can join," she added.

He gave her a look and then nodded. "None of the parents knew of any potential exchange programs," he continued. "This is the easiest thing to tackle and something you should think about doing first." He pulled her papers towards him and flicked to the page where she'd written her ideas about giving parents information. "The best and easiest way to let them know, is to write up a letter. One in English and one in either Bulgarian, French, or the native language spoken at any other school you want to incorporate into the program. The letter needs to detail everything in a succinct and precise manner."

Hermione nodded to what he said. "It sounds like a very good idea; a letter is what I'd been planning."

"It can be sent out with the normal school letters to every student at the start of the school year."

"You'll help me write it?"

"No, Granger, I'm here for no reason," he rolled his eyes which made her smile. "I can get a draft to you in around two days. I'll take this, though," he pinched her papers.

"That's fine," she nodded. "We can run it through with Minister Shacklebolt when a final draft is arranged and then propose that along with other ideas."

"It sounds like a plan," he nodded. "Along with letters we'll need to write up documents containing everything at the end of our research that we can send out to the schools you want involved."

"I'm sure that can easily be done," she nodded. She'd pulled back the papers and took a pen out of her robe pocket and jotted down the new notes he'd suggested to her.

"Now, with the insurance policies…"

—

The meeting had been successful upon its conclusion. Instead of only lasting until eleven, neither Draco or Hermione had paid attention to the time and had finished speaking of the proposal closer to one o'clock. More notes were made and ideas thrown around from both parties and when they spoke last of the meeting, it had been ten to one, according to Draco's watch which he'd quickly looked at. Instead of parting to go their separate ways, both stayed and each had a muffin from the coffee cart and took their seats again.

"Are you going to the Christmas ball?" Hermione asked after she'd taken a bite out of her muffin.

Draco nodded and sipped from the coffee he had. "Unfortunately," he answered with a brief chuckle. "My mother is also hosting one. It will be ever so much fun. Are you going to the Ministry one?"

"Mm-hm," she hummed. "I'd rather not but I have obligations as head of my department."

"Oh yes, what a burden that must be. Attending a _ball_ because duty calls," he teased.

"What's your reason for going then, as you look so enthralled at the mention of it."

"Change of scenery," he smirked. "Instead of a dull night at home, I can have a dull night in a lavish ballroom with free drinks after eleven o'clock. It sounds like a good idea to me."

Hermione laughed and had some more muffin. "My, we're such Grinches, aren't we?"

"I'm sorry, such _what_?"

"Grinches." She continued to laugh at his clueless expression. "It's a Muggle cartoon who hates Christmas."

"Now, now. Hate is a strong word, Granger."

"Mm, I know it is," she said and smiled with an arch of her brow, and then pinched a piece of muffin between her fingers and brought it to her mouth.

"And I don't hate Christmas. I just…tolerate it to a bare extent. Like you said, it's just like any other time of the year, I don't feel the need to celebrate it like everyone else does."

"I agree," she nodded. "All I do is have lunch with my parents, stay the night and work the next morning. I've been doing that since I started working…" She said.

"How have I never seen you around the Ministry during the holiday times?" He asked curiously.

"Maybe you just weren't looking hard enough, Malfoy."

"Why would I be looking for you around the Ministry?"

"Well I—" She began to think of a reason.

"Do you look for _me_ , Granger?" He smirked.

A faint red blush appeared high on her cheeks and she sat up straighter in her chair. "No, of course not! I was merely insinuating that—"

Draco chuckled quietly and held up his hand to get her to stop talking. "Now, now. No need to get your lacies in a twist."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "Don't say that, it's vile."

"How is it vile?" He challenged.

"Because you're talking about…" She paused and then leaned across the table and hissed a whisper, "About my _knickers_!"

Draco gasped mockingly and placed a hand on his chest. "Merlin, I shouldn't be talking about such unholy things!"

"Oh, shut up," Hermione glared at him and took a drink of her coffee. Draco tipped his head back slightly and laughed genuinely at her expression, but missed the faint curve of her own lips as she smiled whilst watching him.

—

It had been two days since Draco's meeting with Hermione regarding the start of their planning to implement an exchange program. The day following the meeting, they had sat together during their coffee break and their interaction had been brief. Just as Hermione had sat down, five minutes after Draco had, she took practically one sip of her coffee before having to leave again. Michael, the young man Draco assumed to be her assistant, had rushed up to her.

 _"_ _Miss Granger, I've just received an owl from Mister Harry Potter."_

 _The speed at which Hermione stood up from her chair was astonishing to Draco and like the last time she'd had to leave her break early, she left her coffee sitting on the table. "Harry sent an owl?" She asked and she grinned. "Was it about…"_

 _Michael smiled back and nodded. "Please send my congratulations to him and his wife. Do you need me to tell the Minister of your absence?"_

 _"_ _Oh yes please, Michael!" Hermione couldn't keep the smile off her face. Draco was still sitting in his chair looking up at the two smiling fools wondering what in Merlin's name was going on and why Potter had to be congratulated. Just as quick as she had arrived at the table, she left, heading to the fireplaces to floo somewhere, obviously, and Michael headed back to the elevators, leaving a very confused Draco drinking his coffee._

The morning after that incident, he read the newspaper as he ate two slices of toast and the front page news explained to him Hermione's sudden departure the day before. The headline read 'Harry Potter and wife Ginny Potter, welcome second son to the world'. He couldn't believe he hadn't put two and two together as he did know that Ginny had been pregnant as it had been in the newspaper also. Then again, that had been some nine months ago and he had more important things to concern himself with other than Potter's newest child.

After a mediocre morning at work, Draco headed down to the atrium to have his coffee. He was surprised to see Hermione already sitting down and he sat with her after he'd ordered his drink. "Potter's really getting busy populating the world, isn't he?" He said as he sat down.

At the mention of her best friend, Hermione smiled. "I'm a godmother now," she said proudly.

"Congratulations," he said off-handedly and drank some coffee.

"Albus Severus Potter."

Draco didn't look at her as she mentioned those names. Even though he had moved on from the past, those two names strung together brought back the vivid memory of the night in the Astronomy Tower. He felt like he had better say something, and settled with, "Unusual name choice."

"Both men meant a lot to Harry," Hermione explained and she could clearly see that the name had brought back some memories for him. "The baby is gorgeous, though," she said. "No hair though, which surprised me, because when James was born he had so much!"

Draco looked over to her. "Granger, look. Babies are close to being my least favourite thing to talk about. I'd really rather not hear about how much hair the thing came out with and you can spare me any other details." She looked quite affronted at what he'd said but he wouldn't apologise.

Her features softened though. "I was just excited to be named his godmother," she said.

"Congratulations, once again," he said and drank without looking at her.

He didn't expect her to stand up though. "I think we should schedule a meeting soon, do you have any idea when?" She asked him.

"The draft of the letter is almost done. I'll send you a memo when it is, we can meet then."

She nodded. "Malfoy." She took her coffee and left the table.

"Granger," he murmured after she'd gone, and he spent the rest of his break alone and wondered why the hell he enjoyed it more with her company.

—

"I thought a meeting was going to accompany this letter," Hermione announced as she strode into Draco's office without so much as a knock on the door.

"Hello to you too. Please, come take a seat," he drawled and stood up from his chair as she came to stand right in front of his desk.

"Did I do something to offend you?" She asked and put the draft copy of the letter down on the desk between them. He'd finished it the day after her 'I'm a godmother' announcement, and he'd just only sent the letter, via an intern, to her office.

He scoffed at her question. "Offend me? With what?"

"You know," Hermione said and pushed her hair back and let out an exasperated sigh, seeming to not know how to answer. "With…the baby name."

"I'm not a sensitive flower, Granger," Draco said seriously. "Just because I had some less than pretty experiences with both the men Potter's kid is named after, doesn't mean that I went home and cried about it."

"I'm not saying that, Malfoy. Why are you getting so defensive all of a sudden?"

"Because you're accusing me of being offended over something ridiculous! It happened over ten years ago, I'm over that shit now. And I'm terribly sorry I didn't hand deliver that letter," he said sardonically and looked down at the letter on his desk. He didn't sit back down, but took his gaze back up to hers as they stood across from each other.

Hermione sighed _again_ and pushed her hair back _again_ even though it was tied back in a tight bun. "It's a valid question for me to ask," she said. "And obviously, by asking you it _did_ offend you right then. And what else was I meant to assume? Yesterday on our break, you shut yourself off as soon as I spoke Alb—the baby's name," she corrected herself.

"Give it a break, Granger. The kid's called Albus, I'm not going to have a breakdown."

" _You_ give it a break, Malfoy!" She finally snapped. "You have every reason to be uncomfortable with the idea and with talking about it, you don't need to be so bloody closed off about it. We're all uncomfortable with things that remind us of the past and like I said, you have every right to be—"

"Drop it, Granger," Draco said, his statement sounding final.

She stared at him with a hard-set jaw and picked up the letter from his desk. "I'll show the Minister and other members of the department who are interested in the proposal."

"Let me know how it goes."

Both of their tones were lacking of the sharpness and almost malice they'd had before. She stared at him for a few seconds and he clenched the back of his teeth. Without another word, she turned with the letter and left his office, closing the door quietly behind her, leaving Draco to sink back down into his chair and think.

—

That night sitting at home, Draco really believed that a few glasses of firewhiskey were in order. He was standing in his kitchen pouring his second glass when he heard tapping at his window and turned to see a tawny owl perched on his windowsill with a note attached to its leg. Leaving his drink on the counter, he pulled the window up and let the bird hop down onto the kitchen counter and it waited patiently while he unrolled the note.

 _Malfoy,_

 _I'm very much hoping that Archie (the owl in front of you) gets to you in a reasonable time so you can reply; if you would like to, that is._

 _I briefly met with the Minister and he said that the letter was a great start and gave a few side-notes that should be incorporated into it. Maybe we can work on that soon. Tomorrow? I'm not technically working but we could still meet up if you would like to. Let me know a time and a place._

 _I feel like I need to address what happened between us in your office. It's been plaguing my mind since it happened. Looking back I think my words were wrong and I was quick to speak without thinking. What I'm trying to tell you, Malfoy, is that what happened between us shouldn't have over something like that. Over ten years may have passed since then, but time doesn't heal all wounds — unfortunately, that's something I know._

 _Hope your night is pleasant._

 _H._

The next day was Sunday and Draco wasn't meant to work and neither was Hermione according to the letter. His only plan for the day was his usual Sunday morning breakfast with his mother at the Manor, so meeting with Hermione didn't seem like such a bad idea. He didn't have any sense of trepidation in meeting with her after their incident in his office. He wasn't as immature to be unable to look her in the eye after they'd had a brief tiff. Over the years, fights between them were few and far between and the both of them were more civil to each other than bitter and rude. Their conversations were mainly based around teasing comments and sardonic remarks, but that was how they worked now days. To him, she was not a Mudblood, unworthy to be in his presence, and to her, he was not a Death Eater or prejudiced git — perhaps just a git some days.

He left the kitchen to go to his small office which was advertised as a second bedroom with the house. For him, it held a large desk, a few filing cabinets, two large bookcases and an armchair. It all filled the room nicely and it was his favourite area of his house. He got out a spare piece of parchment and dipped his quill in the inkwell on his desk and quickly penned a reply.

 _Granger,_

 _I'm able to meet tomorrow after noon. Let's meet at the Willow Grove Cafe at around one o'clock. I'm sure you're familiar with it, it is in Diagon Alley. Will see you then._

 _D._

He rolled the parchment and took it back out to the owl that was still standing patiently on the kitchen counter. After tying the paper to its leg, Draco then rummaged around in his cupboard and found an old packet of owl treats he'd had when he'd owned his own bird. The owl nipped the treat from his hand then hopped out to the windowsill and took off, heading back to its owner. Draco stood at the kitchen window for a few more minutes before closing it and then remembered what he'd been doing before he'd been interrupted by the message. He walked back over to where his half filled cup of firewhiskey was sitting next to the glass bottle. He stared at them both for a while before deciding to finish what was already in the cup, and then put the bottle away. Even though he had many sobering up potions in the medicine cabinet above his bathroom sink, surprisingly he wasn't in the mood to get sloshed. He looked at the clock on his wall. Nine-thirty and he was already considering retiring to bed; not because he was tired, but because he had nothing else to do with his night now that he'd put the firewhiskey away.

Twenty minutes later he was lying atop his bed covers with a book in hand, spending less time reading and more time thinking about the meeting he'd be having the next day. Not once had he ever met up with a colleague outside the walls of the Ministry and he would never have thought that the first time he'd do just that would be with Hermione. Thinking more about it though, he came to realise that she was the only person over the course of his working there, that he actually had normal conversations with that weren't about work. The realisation shocked him and what made him close his book and put it on his side table was when he realised that he enjoyed talking to her even when it wasn't about work and even more buried inside him, was the anticipation for their meeting to come.

—

Draco apparated directly from Malfoy Manor to the Leaky Cauldron at ten to one the next day, preferring to be early rather than late. It had been raining when he'd woken up this morning and hadn't ceased as the time wore on. He could hear the sound of the rain outside because of the subdued and quiet environment in the pub due to it being early afternoon. He'd come prepared with an umbrella and after tapping his wand on the brick wall outside and gaining access to the alley, he opened it up and held it above his head. The weather was miserable and typical of a London December and he tried to avoid puddles as he headed to the cafe which was built towards the end of the street. Just as he passed Flourish and Blotts, he looked up from the cobbled ground and saw a familiar person walking in the direction he was going.

Over the years he'd come to recognise the way Hermione walked — the straight posture she held, the slight sway of her hips and how her head always stayed up and looking ahead. This time however, had been the first time he'd seen her casually dressed. At the Ministry she always opted for wearing a work blouse and pencil skirt or pants, but now she was wearing a cream jumper, jeans and ankle boots. After he briefly looked her appearance over, he came to realise that she didn't have an umbrella and her hair (which wasn't tied into a bun, much to his surprise) was getting wet despite her efforts to cover it with her hands.

Draco quickened his pace and caught up to her easily. "Who comes out in the rain without an umbrella?" He asked as he put his palm against her back and moved the umbrella to cover the both of them.

She'd jumped slightly under his touch but when she looked up and realised it was him and that there were obviously no hard feelings between them, she smiled. His lips quirked up slightly in return. "Me it seems," she replied. "Thank you." The both of them walked to the cafe in silence and it wasn't until he had to pull his umbrella back in, that they both realised his hand hadn't left the small of her back the entire time.

* * *

 **A/N: I tried to keep this chapter the same length (4000+ words) as the first chapter which is why it took me a while to get this one uploaded. I'd just like an opinion, please leave it in the reviews, but do you guys prefer smaller chapters with more regular updates, or longer chapters like this with slightly more time between updates? Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter, please leave reviews and, like before, constructive criticism is welcome!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm looking for a beta that would be able to proofread each chapter quickly or periodically as I write it out. If anyone's interested, please PM me, it would be super helpful as I have noticed some small mistakes when re-reading chapters that I missed when writing and re-reading the first time. Enjoy!**

* * *

Hermione found a table to sit at while Draco went to the front counter to order their drinks. He got their usuals that would normally be purchased from the atrium coffee cart (latte for her and a long black for himself) and two muffins for the both of them, and brought it all over on a tray to the table she'd picked out. It was towards the back of the cafe, which would have been the table he'd picked out too if he had the choice. Hermione had just put her wand into the small bag she had on the floor by her feet and by the looks of her hair and shoulders, she had just cast a drying spell on herself. He took his own wand out and did the same on his shoes and the bottom of his trousers.

"How have you been?" Hermione asked as she took her coffee and muffin off the tray after he'd sat down and placed it between them. He spotted the pile of papers she had in front of her as well which she must have also taken from her bag.

"Can't complain," he responded and tore off a small bit of the top of his muffin off and popped it in his mouth. "You?"

"Good," she said brightly — _too_ brightly it seemed and he could tell there was a reason for her now chirpy mood. He didn't question it and nodded down at the papers in front of her. "Ah yes, these are the notes that the Minister gave me about things that should be included in the letter."

She passed him the first piece of paper which he read over and was glad to see only a minimal amount of suggested corrections. "Easily fixed," he said. "I can make corrections tonight and give the next draft back to you tomorrow."

"You don't need to work on your night off," Hermione said to him.

That statement made Draco snort. "And do _you_ truly have days and nights off work?" He asked. Her look was all the answer he needed. "See? So yes, I'll make the corrections tonight, I don't have any other plans."

"I'm going to see my godson tonight," she announced with a smile.

"You can call him Albus. Like I said, I'm not going to combust if you do."

"I know that, Malfoy," she said. "I just enjoy brandishing my title."

"You're just known by your titles now," Draco said with an amused smirk. "The Brightest Witch of Our Age, the head of your department and now godmother… What's next?"

"Only time will tell," Hermione laughed softly and took a sip of her latte. "What will you be doing tonight?"

"Other than the letter?" Draco shrugged a shoulder. "Nothing. Now, I have been doing a lot of research on the certain insurances that should be looked at for the exchange students, because of their age and the distance between schools."

"I'll jot some notes down," she said and leaned down to pull out a pen from the bag at her feet, and turned one piece of parchment over to write on the back. "Fire away."

—

Over the course of what turned out to be four hours, they had gotten a pot of tea delivered to their table which they'd been drinking cups of as time passed. They spoke deeply about the project and Draco provided many opinions, ideas and solutions for her questions. Together, they managed to write out a comprehensive plan on things that needed to be addressed, how they could do that, and who could help. In that plan it had been decided Hermione would travel to both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang at some point over the next few months to speak with the headmasters of each school. Who would accompany her on the trips was still undecided and would be figured out as the project wore on.

"Would you look at that; you don't have a cup full of sugar in your tea," Draco said when he watched her pour another cup of tea and add milk but no sugar.

"Funny," Hermione said dryly and took a sip then let out a satisfied sigh. "I really think we did well today," she said.

He lifted his wrist to look at the time on his watch and found it to be almost five o'clock. "I didn't expect it to last this long," he said honestly.

"I'm sorry, if you were planning on anything—"

"You don't need to apologise, Granger," Draco brushed off. "We did a lot, this meeting was needed and it sets us right on track for the next couple of weeks."

"It does," she smiled then leaned down to pick up her bag. "I'll give you the documents I was telling you about before," she said and started to rifle through everything contained inside. Draco waited and watched some people leave their tables and head outside. Over the course of the past four or so hours, many people had come and gone, some only having drinks, some having lunch or just a snack. A lot of people took their things to go. He always enjoyed observing people go about their daily business and often times wondered if other people watched just as intently as he did and ever saw him and wondered what he was doing. He was broken from his reverie by Hermione sighing and muttering, "Shit," under her breath.

"What is it?" He asked, turning back to her.

"I didn't put the papers in my bag," she said in frustration. "I can get them from home and floo to your house? Sorry, I really thought I had them with me."

"Why don't I go home with you and get them?" Draco suggested since he knew she was going to be busy with the Potters afterwards.

"You wouldn't mind?"

He shook his head. "It's really not out of my way. Do you want to leave now?"

"If that's okay," Hermione nodded and stood up, taking a purse out of her bag.

"I've already paid, Granger."

"You have?" She furrowed her brows. "Let me give you some. You've done nothing but help me this last week it's the least I can do."

"No," he shook his head firmly and picked up the notes they'd written. "You don't owe me anything." She seemed to have sensed his tone and didn't argue. He hated when people thought that they owed him something — with anything, not just money. "I'll have to side-along, I don't know where your house is," he said, changing the subject.

Hermione nodded and once she had everything in order, she put her hand on his forearm and a few seconds later she apparated them both to her home. Draco preferred using the floo network over apparating as the latter never failed to make him feel nauseous and had done since he'd first learnt how to do it. He looked around where they had apparated too and saw that they were standing in her living room. The furniture was simple but comfortable looking and the whole room looked homey and inviting, with several picture frames on the mantle of the fireplace and a few different artworks on the walls. "I'll just go get the things for you," she said and dropped her hand from his arm and headed out the archway leaving him by himself in the room.

He had never really been to such lived-in homes. At the Manor, artwork was priceless, furniture was expensive and bought for decoration rather than comfort. The only family pictures that adorned the walls was in one corridor of the house with individual portraits of the head Malfoy men of the family, stopping at Lucius and Draco had been determined that would be the last portrait to ever grace that wall. So far his determination had paid off and his mother never brought it up. He didn't want to poke around her things or sit down on the couch as he didn't want to seem like he was making himself too much at home or invading on her personal space. He jumped slightly (but would never admit it) when something jumped onto the coffee table he was standing next to and he looked down and saw a tabby cat staring up at him. He'd known Hermione had owned a cat before but figured it was long gone by now as the last time he'd seen it he had been in his sixth year at school.

Draco held his hand out to the cat which sniffed his fingertips then rubbed its head against his palm. He smiled slightly and scratched the cat behind its ears. "I see you've met Taurus," Hermione said as she came back into the living room with a folder.

"Was Sagittarius too much of a mouthful?" He drawled and patted the cat once more before taking the folder when she handed it to him.

"Funny," she rolled her eyes with a smile and looked down as Taurus jumped off the coffee table and trotted past her and out the archway.

"Nice home," Draco complimented, looking around to break the silence between them. "I've only seen one room albeit," he chuckled.

"Would you like a tour?" She offered.

The question had taken him aback as he hadn't thought his tone had been insinuating he wanted to see the rest of her house. "No, it's fine," he said. "You have god-motherly duties to attend to, I best be off. Mind if I use the floo?"

She shook her head and walked forward a step as he went to her fireplace. "Thank you for making the time to have the meeting today," she said to him and gave him a small smile. "It's nice to finally have someone on my side with this project."

He took a handful of floo powder from the jar on the mantle. "Someone would have done it eventually," he told her. "It's a fine project, Granger. Your passion for it is guaranteed to make it work." Her smile brightened at his comment and the corner of his lips curved up into a crooked smile. He couldn't count the number of times she'd made him involuntarily smile that day and he didn't know how to feel about that fact.

"Thank you, Malfoy."

"It's never an issue, Granger," he gave her a nod and then stepped into the fireplace and dropped the powder, calling out the address of his house.

It was only later when he opened the folder to start working on it that he found a small money sack and a note inside.

 _For lunch today. You really don't think I'd let you get away now, did you?_

The small piece of parchment made him roll his eyes and he put the money on his desk and the note into the top drawer before he picked up a quill to start editing the letter once more.

—

"Malfoy, do you want to tell me why I didn't have to pay for this coffee?" Hermione asked as she came to sit across from him at their usual table outside the coffee cart.

Draco smirked and lifted his cup up and took a sip. "I saw that little surprise you left me in the folder," he told her. "And don't complain otherwise I'm leaving the project." He was joking of course and she knew it and fought off a smile as she started pouring her three sugars in. "I took the liberty of handing in the letter to the Minister this morning," he told her.

She stopped as she began to stir in the sugar and looked at him. "Really? Did he say anything? When will we hear feedback?"

"You'll hear it right now," he told her and put his coffee down. "I waited around for him to read it and he loves it. He thinks it will work and doesn't see any need for change."

He watched her smile grow into a grin and she clapped her hands once. "This is brilliant! Gosh, it's all really coming together now, isn't it? My…We need to start thinking about so much more now; start implementing our plans."

"We do," he agreed. "You should start scheduling some meetings with the directors of education to work out some of the issues we weren't sure of."

"I'll need to," she nodded and let out a breath before taking a drink of her coffee. "I have a busy week ahead…"

"I thought you knew that when you signed up for your position," he said which made her laugh softly and nod.

"Unfortunately I also need to prepare for the holiday ball," she said. "Ginny and I are going shopping today and tomorrow after work. Don't tell anyone but I really _hate_ going shopping with her. I love her to death but Merlin she tries to put me into some questionable outfits."

Draco chuckled. "How did your night go yesterday with the baby?"

"Good," she nodded. "Well, I did get spit up on once which wasn't the most pleasant thing I've experienced."

"I'd be worried if it was."

"They're not the most considerate, babies," she joked.

"Potter has another kid, yes?" Draco asked and was given a nod in return. "Why weren't you named godmother of that one?"

"Harry and Ginny always knew they were going to have more than one child, so they named Ron the godfather of James and promised me the title of godmother with their next child," she said. "Harry only had one godparent too and Ginny didn't have any so they didn't really think it was crucial for the kids to have two."

"That makes sense," he nodded. "And I bet you're glad you're not teamed up with Weasley."

"It would be awkward if that was the case," she laughed. "Maybe if you asked me that ten years ago I would have been happy with the idea, but not now." It had been common knowledge that when the war concluded and things were righted a little more, Hermione and Ron had a relationship for three years from when they were nineteen.

"Ten years, doesn't that make us seem old," he said and took a drink of coffee.

"Tell me about it. I'm turning thirty next year. _Thirty_ , Malfoy."

"You're truly going over the hill now. Better start planning your retirement," he said sarcastically.

"I better. My will too. Know anyone good to help me with the documents?" She joked. Draco only rolled his eyes and laughed.

—

"Stand straight, Draco, you're going to get poked with the pin."

Draco straightened his back and looked straight ahead at the full length mirror in front of him. Himself and his mother, who was currently sitting on a chair by the window, were in Madam Malkin's robe shop organising his suits for the two upcoming Christmas balls he had to attend. He had plenty of suits and dress robes at home and in his closet at the Manor, but he always liked new garments for upcoming events. At present, the length of his trousers were getting fixed to best accommodate his height. The suit was dark grey in colour and he knew he had a suitable dress shirt, tie and cufflinks at home, but for the sake of the fitting he was wearing his white work shirt under the suit jacket.

The shop assistant who was doing the necessary adjustments stood up once the bottom of his trousers were pinned and stood back to let Narcissa come over. The Malfoy woman looked her son up and down before stepping forward and pointed at the sides of his suit jacket. "This needs to be taken in slightly." The assistant nodded and got straight back to work and Draco let out a bored sigh, adjusting his arms so the assistant could start pinning, and he diverted his attention to the window and the outside where Diagon Alley was quite busy for a Wednesday afternoon, but then again, it was the holiday season. He sacrificed his lunch break to have this fitting since it was really the only time he could do it. His workload had increased with people putting in applications for his help that he would review over the holiday period and assist on once work was back to normal in the first week of January. The Ministry Ball was in two days and the ball being hosted at Malfoy Manor by his mother, was on Sunday night. Three days after that, it was Christmas Day.

Along with his general workload increasing, he was striving to get a lot of work done for Hermione so that they would have a lot to go off of the next week when they'd both be at work while many people took time off. Since the letter was done and was being reproduced onto more formal looking parchment with all adequate signatures to be sent to the three Wizarding Schools targeted (for the time being), they were more concerned about now working on the insurance that would cover potential exchange students and after that, they would have to work out payment options. Even though he had nothing else to do in his personal life that required immediate attention, the thought of how much work he had to do for his job gave him a headache. He knew he'd be able to do it however, and it was that thought that ceased any added stress.

"There we go," the shop assistant said and stood back after the pins had been added to the jacket. Narcissa walked forward to look at it and then smiled.

"Perfect," she said and brushed her hands against his shoulders to straighten out the jacket. "Doesn't it look wonderful, Draco?"

"Smashing," he responded dully as he was now officially past the point of boredom.

"We'll take this one," Narcissa told the assistant. "Draco, go change into the other one. It's in the dressing room you were first in."

He felt the need to salute to his mother as he walked to the dressing rooms in the robe shop and shut the door. He'd been to Madam Malkin's countless times over the years to get his formal attire and was very familiar with the process of getting his suits and robes tailored to fit just right. He hated an ill-fitting suit and was told that he was quite similar to his father in that respect. Thank Merlin that was the only comparison he got these days. He carefully took off the suit jacket and hung it up and then did the same with the trousers and double checked the pins to make sure they hadn't moved from their places.

A few minutes later he came out in the new suit, a dark olive green one this time. His mother had chosen the colour to break up his typically monochrome coloured wardrobe and he was surprised at how well it looked. He was staring at the mirror again as the shop assistant came up to start tailoring and five minutes in he looked at the reflection of the door when it opened. "Fancy seeing you here, stranger," Draco smirked when Pansy Parkinson strode through the door.

"Draco! I'm surprised you aren't living at the Ministry these days," she drawled and then saw his mother who had just finished paying for the suits. "And Narcissa too, I haven't seen you both in so long," she said and walked to Narcissa to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Are you getting a dress for the ball?" Narcissa asked the raven haired witch.

"Yes," Pansy nodded with a smile. "For your ball and the Ministry ball as well."

"Wonderful," Narcissa smiled. "I can't wait to see your dress on the night."

"I thought you didn't like the Ministry ball?" Draco asked Pansy and clenched his jaw slightly when the bottom of his leg was touched by a pin but he didn't say anything as he didn't want his mother to start attacking the young assistant who was doing the tailoring.

"I'm still not a fan," Pansy said, walking closer to him and looked him up and down. "Nice colour," she complimented the suit and he nodded. "Blaise insists that I attend with him this year."

"Makes sense," Draco said. It had only been in March of the current year that Blaise and Pansy announced their engagement. They had dated on and off for around four years until Pansy decided they were either going to be serious or be nothing at all the year they were twenty-four. Ever since then, they had worked as a couple and worked out the issues that caused them to separate so often. It had only been a matter of time that one of them brought up the idea of marriage, and Draco had actually been the one that Blaise told first and he'd helped him buy an engagement ring that would appease Pansy. That ring had turned out to be covered in a substantial amount of diamonds, _very_ expensive, and _very_ noticeable to anyone that looked at her left hand.

Pansy had wandered away from him back to Narcissa. "So have you got a wedding date set out yet?" The latter asked.

"Yes, finally," Pansy nodded. "I had to threaten Blaise with a few nasty curses to get him to actually sit down and help me plan. It will be this coming June. I've already been looking at dresses."

The last question was enough to make Draco tune out and look back into the mirror. His mother had told him that he needed a haircut but he wasn't too fond of the idea. The length of his hair suited him — at least he thought — and it managed to sit just nice with the help of a small amount of product; no where near the amount of gel he used in his school years. It wasn't long but it was what his mother liked to refer to as 'scruffy'. He was also told by her to shave the stubble on his face as, in her words, he would "look more like a woodchopper if it grows anymore."

He looked at both his mother and Pansy in the mirror as they were both now looking at what he figured was Pansy's dress to the Ministry's event as he knew both women wanted their dresses to be a surprise on the night of the ball at Malfoy Manor. He had known, and always known, that Pansy and his mother were the two most important women in his life. At one point, Astoria had been in the ranks too, but that had changed as the years wore on. Pansy's family had been close friends with the Malfoy family for many years, with her father and his being school mates and friends and their wives subsequently becoming close as they got older. Draco couldn't remember a point in his childhood where Pansy hadn't been there. They'd gone from being in nappies together, to embarking on their first train ride to Hogwarts together, and had been close through all the years. Although neither saw each other as much anymore, they still remained good friends and attempted to get together whenever possible.

"All done, Mister Malfoy," the assistant said and stood up. "Shall I check with your mother?"

"No," Draco shook his head and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked at all the alterations that were to be made and said, "It looks good. These have been paid for already, yes?" The assistant nodded. "Very well," he said. "Thank you for your help."

"That's okay, Mister Malfoy."

"I'll need to go back to work now," he said as he got to his mother and Pansy.

"Keep the pins in. Make a statement," Pansy smirked which made him roll his eyes and head to the change rooms. Fifteen minutes later, he was back in his office and saw a note on the floor by the door where it had been slipped under and he recognised the familiar handwriting.

 _I won't be at work tomorrow so don't feel pressured to get me any documents on the project. Maybe I'll see you at the ball? Don't worry though, I won't be looking for you._

 _H._

He remembered back to one of their conversations the other week where her last line applied and he smiled and took the note to his desk and slipped it into the drawer, joining the other notes from her.

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 **A/N: I hope that it doesn't bother people when I leave out large chunks of business-talk. I personally don't know a thing about insurance between countries and I don't think it would be all that interesting - hence leaving it out. Hope you guys don't mind! Another thought is how would you guys enjoy seeing some sections or full chapters from Hermione's P.O.V. It will happen eventually. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave reviews! Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

As Draco had said to Hermione in their first meeting about the exchange program, he was only going to the ball mainly for the change of scenery and free drinks. He knew if he stayed at home, he would have either watched television or read a book accompanied by a flow of firewhiskey, or simply just had the firewhiskey to keep him company. Why not drink some free firewhiskey in a place crowded with people that he could watch for the night to keep himself amused. He'd been invited over to Pansy and Blaise's apartment so they could all arrive together but he'd said no, choosing not to be involved in what would no doubt be Hurricane Pansy as the witch organised her things before leaving.

The doors to the ballroom opened from seven o'clock and it was at seven o'clock that Draco got up from lying on his sofa to go into his room and take out his newly tailored olive green suit which he had originally been going to wear for the ball at the Manor but only changed his mind around an hour ago. He took his time in dressing and finding an appropriate tie to match the suit and then find some cufflinks. Not once had he arrived at any sort of function dead-on the opening time as he preferred not to be the first one to anything. It could have been slightly to do with the fact he didn't want to seem too eager for the events, but mostly because he didn't believe he would be 'late' as such because technically there was no closing time. By the time he was dressed and had made sure his hair was sitting properly, his stubble was presentable and he had a spritz of cologne on, it was seven thirty and decided it was about time he should go to the Ministry. He had a feeling that Hermione would already be there and he would never admit it to anyone else, but for the majority of the day he'd been pondering over if they would speak that night and wondering what sort of dress she would be wearing. Even if he didn't speak to her for the duration of the ball, he still knew of several people that were attending that he wouldn't mind talking to if he had to.

He took the floo to the Ministry and the atrium was bustling with people in formal attire heading towards the area of the building that held the ballroom which had only been a recent edition seven years previous. He even spotted a few familiar faces from his department amongst the crowd and was glad he'd decided on arriving at this time. He followed the masses en route to the ballroom and entered through the grand doors into the crowded room. Everyone that worked at the Ministry had been invited with a plus one, and while many people opted out of the celebration for various reasons, there was still a substantial amount of attendees but he knew from previous experience going to the holiday ball, that many people left before midnight with the excuse of going home to children. Draco was forever grateful that he hadn't been tied down with a child in his twenties.

He received a slap on the shoulder as he wandered through the crowd, and turned to see who the deliverer was and found it to be Blaise with his other arm around Pansy's waist. "You're allowed to have fun, you know," the sarcastic wizard drawled. He was wearing a dark suit and Pansy was in a long dark purple dress that suited her quite nicely.

"Doesn't mean I'll obey that," Draco drawled right back and put his hands in his trouser pockets which was a habit his mother always pulled him up on when she was around, but since she wasn't here, he could have his freedom. "Nice dress, Pansy," he complimented his friend.

"Why, thank you," she said and then smirked. "No female hanging off your arm tonight then?" She questioned and Draco scoffed.

"Do you know me at all?"

"We were thinking maybe you'd have a change of heart heading into the new year," Blaise chuckled.

"You thought wrong," he smirked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I do have a date with the bar I have to attend." He turned and headed in the direction he wanted to go and briefly heard Pansy ask her fiancé for a dance. Draco was glad it wasn't him as he detested dancing and it also had a very low rank on the list of things he didn't care about. At the bar he ordered himself a firewhiskey and stood to the side leaning against a pillar while he watched the world go by around him. He observed couples walking hand in hand or arm in arm to the dance floor, some dancing intimately and close and others quite obviously taking the piss and just enjoying the night and the music and it wasn't just couples dancing.

He quietly sipped his drink and paid no attention to anyone in particular but his eyes did scan the area looking for someone. To no avail after several minutes of looking around he gave up his search and went to order another firewhiskey.

"I'll have a champagne too, please."

The familiar voice made Draco turn his head and he was almost taken aback at the sight of Hermione next to him. Her hair was curled in delicate waves that framed her face and was much different to the plain bun or ponytail she sported to work everyday. She wore an emerald green dress with off the shoulder sleeves, that cinched at the waist and fell loosely down to her feet. He was rather speechless for a few seconds and he could tell from the slight smirk on her face that she knew it too. "We're almost matching," he managed to say within a time frame that wasn't considered to be _too_ long of a horrifically awkward silence.

"We are," she agreed and took her glass of champagne off the bar when it was brought over and Draco took his firewhiskey. "This is an unusual colour to see you in," she said, touching the sleeve of his suit as the both of them walked away from the bar together.

"My mother insisted that it would suit me," Draco said and took a drink.

"She was right," Hermione said casually and took a sip of her wine. The comment made him raise a brow and he smirked behind the rim of his glass as he took a sip. "Have you been here long?" She asked.

"Around fifteen minutes. You?"

"Since the doors opened."

"I could have put money on that," he chuckled and put his free hand in his pocket. "Did you come with anyone else?" He asked her and very much hoped she didn't interpret it as him asking if she had a date.

"Yes, I came with Ginny and Harry," she nodded and pointed over in the direction she must have left them. "I couldn't resist seeing Albus and James before they went to their grandparents," she said with a large smile.

"I take it the Potters will be leaving early then?"

"You guessed it," she nodded and wiped a small smear of her lipstick off the rim of her glass. "They're those kind of people," she laughed. "Although I can't blame them, Albus is only a few days old after all. It did take a lot to get Ginny to come tonight."

"Why did he force her to come?" Draco asked and furrowed his brows. He would never have taken Potter to be someone to force his wife into doing something she didn't want to do, and it was one thing that automatically made Draco dislike a man.

"He didn't. He actually told her to stay if she felt more comfortable but she wanted to see his speech and give him support," Hermione said. "They adore each other, there hasn't been one event that they've gone to without the other one by their side."

Draco scoffed and pretended to gag. "Save the lovey-dovey shit for someone else," he drawled.

"Get over it, Malfoy," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's disconcerting that you act like a child having a tantrum when someone talks about something you don't like."

"I can't help it, it's who I am," he joked. He saw a pair of people leave a table close by and he nodded towards it. "Do you want to sit down?" He asked and she nodded in return. They walked over and sat down, placing their drinks on the table.

"It's really a beautiful setup, isn't it?" Hermione commented as she looked around. The decorations were grand indeed. It was a white theme this year with the tables draped with fine white table cloths and the chairs had some intricate covers on the back. Decorations hung from the walls and white centre pieces adorned every table. Even the instruments being played by the band were white.

"My mother will be glad that her decorations are different," he humoured since he knew that Narcissa had decorated the Manor's much smaller ballroom, in different shades of pale, ice blue.

"Does she always host a Christmas ball?" Hermione asked curiously.

He nodded. "Well, excluding our fifth to seventh year and the year after the war."

"Understandable," she nodded. She then looked away from him and out at the crowd and he knew something was different about her as she always paid complete attention in their conversations and never wandered her eyes unlike what he did.

"Something wrong?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

She seemed to have forgotten about him completely and jumped slightly at the interruption of her thoughts. "No, nothing," she shook her head.

"That's an insult to my intelligence, Granger," Draco drawled after he'd taken a drink of firewhiskey. "What's wrong?"

She sighed and wrinkled her nose slightly. He hadn't thought she would actually tell him until she opened her mouth and spoke. "Ron wants to try a relationship again."

If he had been taking a drink at that point, he would have promptly spat it out on the table. Luckily his hand was firmly around his glass as it rest on the table and he had a look of shock on his face. "Weasley? Really?"

"Mm-hm," she nodded and sipped her champagne.

"What do you want?"

"I don't want to be back with him," she answered and Draco wouldn't realise until much later, that he released a small breath of relief. "What we had was good when we were both nineteen but that was before we had proper responsibilities. Proper jobs." She took in a breath and sighed.

"You don't have to tell me about this," Draco said and suddenly felt very intrusive on her personal life even though she had willingly spoke of it.

"I won't talk about it, but only because I don't want it to ruin my night any more," Hermione said and he saw her hand raise on reflex to push her fringe away but had nothing to do as it was pinned back. "Would you like to dance?" She asked him since the band had just finished one song and was preparing for the next.

"No can do, Granger," he shook his head. "I hate dancing."

She shrugged one shoulder and then stood up. "Well, I don't want to be sitting around for the entire night," she said and finished her champagne and placed it back on the table. "Maybe I'll see you around?" She asked.

"Maybe."

She smiled with her teeth showing and then said, "Enjoy your night if I don't see you again."

He forced his lips upwards slightly as she left. "Unlikely," he muttered to himself and finished his drink. He cursed himself for watching her walk away and letting his gaze linger on the slight sway she always had when she walked. The dress cinched in at her waist accentuated the curves of her body more than her work outfit did and he physically had to stand from his chair and walk back to where he'd been previous to meeting up with her, just to avert his eyes somewhere else and not have such thoughts in his mind. Minutes later he spotted her in the crowd of dancers dancing with Neville Longbottom, the latter being so clumsily footed at dancing that he and Hermione were laughing in glee and looked to be having great fun. Draco knew that if he wanted to, he could walk over to her group of friends and be readily accepted to spend the night with them all and maybe have a conversation or too, but he hardly knew any of them personally and felt it would be too big of a step that he wasn't necessarily ready to take.

Out of all the people he knew Hermione was still friends with from school, Draco had only spoken to Harry the most. Harry had been the one to testify for Draco on his trial and ever since then, whenever the two had been in a lift together, or bumped into each other in the Ministry hallways, they'd always exchanged a word or two. Not once had Draco found a way over the years to adequately thank Harry enough for what he did in his testifying to the Wizengamot which essentially kept him out of Azkaban and his mother without any sort of sanction. He had even said those words to him once.

 _Draco was travelling down in the lift after working an hour after he was meant to finish in the Ministry when it stopped and the doors opened. In stepped Harry Potter and Draco moved to the side to let him in. After a few seconds of quiet, Harry spoke. "How have you been fairing?" He asked._

 _It had been around three years since his trial and while they saw each other regularly, Draco didn't like to stop to talk, preferring to keep his head down and do his new job at the Ministry. "Alright," he answered. "You?"_

 _"_ _Couldn't be better."_

 _The answer would have rubbed him the wrong way in the past but Draco didn't want to take any sort of offence from it and restrained himself from doing so. The lift stopped at the bottom and opened to the empty atrium and both men stepped out in silence. Just when they went to part ways, Draco spoke up. "Potter, wait." Harry turned and looked at him with no expression of annoyance or disinterest on his face which made Draco feel considerably relieved. "I…" He fumbled for words which made him internally kick himself. "I don't know how to properly thank you for what you did for my mother and myself on our trial." It was the first time they'd spoken of the day since it happened._

 _Harry contemplated his answers for a few seconds. "You don't need to thank me or feel like you need to repay me in anyway," he said. "The war's in the past and it needs to be remembered for the good that became of it. You were misled, Malfoy, that's all. You've proven more than enough times since then that you are sorry and that's all anyone needs — that's all the thanks I need."_

 _Draco had stayed quiet and mulled over his words before nodding. He didn't respond to what the other wizard had said but merely answered, "Have a nice night, Potter," and then turned to head in the direction he needed to go to walk home._

The memory and the associated memories of the trial was enough to make Draco head to the bar for a stronger drink and resume his quiet musing and watching.

—

By ten o'clock, the ball was still in full swing after a momentary pause to listen to various speeches from people like the Minister and Harry Potter, and Draco hadn't left the bar until he decided he needed to use the bathroom. He staggered away from where he stood, leaving his glass on the bar, and managed to walk with enough grace that it didn't look like he was sloshed.

"Where are you going?" Pansy asked and gripped onto his arm as he passed because in all honesty, he hadn't seen her.

"For a piss. Care to join?"

"You smell," Pansy wrinkled her nose and then opened up the clutch purse she was holding and took out a small vial and a packet of mints and gave one to him. "You're bloody lucky I carry these around for Blaise and I," she said and pressed the vial into his hand as well. He looked down at it and recognised the label as a sobering up potion, then popped the mint into his mouth. "Why are you acting like it's the end of the world? Take a reality check, Draco, it's a Christmas party, not reflecting time." Pansy had always been straight to the point.

He made a noise akin to a grunt and, with the vial in hand, headed to the bathrooms. There were two other men in when he arrived and after he did his business and washed his hands, he uncapped the potion vial, took a drink and instantly felt the effects. His head was less stuffy and he could think reasonably again and with that, he left the bathroom to go back out to the ballroom. On his way there he saw Ginny and Harry walking his way. "Going home already?" He asked and slowed down, feeling it was the polite thing to do as they all knew each other.

"We have a newborn to pick up," Ginny chimed in.

"We can't all be the life of the party," Harry chuckled and put his hand on Ginny's back.

"Enjoy your burden of joy… No. Your _bundle_ of joy, forgive me," Draco smirked and gave Harry a nod and carried on his way. He knew the comment went over well as he could hear their laugh and he was positive he would have heard about it if they had taken offence. Once back in the ballroom, he had to stop himself from heading directly to the bar, and instead took a seat at the table he and Hermione had sat at earlier in the night. He was content to people watch for the remainder of the evening and decided he wouldn't have another drink. Somewhere inside of him he knew the reason behind taking drink after drink, but that reason wasn't apparent to him just yet.

As he was scanning the crowds and looking all over at people he didn't recognise, he caught sight of someone he very well _did_ recognise. Thankfully, his eyes only made contact with Astoria's face for a second or two before he averted his eyes and stood from his chair. He could tell that she was heading his way and while they had spoken to each other since their breakup, it had never been intentional and mostly due to bumping into each other. He turned slightly and could see her out of his peripheral vision walking towards him in a dress of shimmering red. He wasn't up for talking to her that night (or any time for that matter) and as soon as he spotted an opening between a group of people, he set off to walk that way.

He walked just slow enough that it seemed casual and the fates were on his side when he turned and had to reach his hands out to steady the person he'd almost bumped into. "Granger," he announced just as she had said his last name also. "Dance with me," he said, not as a question.

"But you said you—"

"People change," he excused and instinctively his hand went for hers and lead her to the dance floor. If he managed to stay occupied long enough, he could avoid Astoria. It was only an added bonus that his distraction was Hermione. A new song had just begun playing and Draco stopped near some other dancing couples and placed his hand on Hermione's waist and her hand came up to his shoulder, their other hands still clasped together.

"You're a terrible liar under pressure, do you know that?" Hermione said with a smile playing at the edge of her lips.

"What are you talking about?" He pretended he didn't know and glanced to the side and when he didn't see Astoria, he turned his attention back to the woman in front of him.

"And you obviously think that I'm oblivious," she laughed and shook her head. "You dated Astoria Greengrass, correct?" There was no point in him lying to her since he knew for a fact there had been some details of their relationship in newspapers when they had broken up years ago, and it had been common knowledge for the years they had been together. "She came up to me about a minute ago asking if I'd seen you."

"Did she now?"

"Mm… I pointed her in your direction and now you've come scampering to me." She laughed and he was glad she could find the humour in the situation. "So now you're pretending you actually want to dance with me so you can avoid your ex."

"What if I told you that I don't mind dancing with you?" He asked and his tone was sincere enough to make her stop laughing and just look up at him with a smile but he recognised the hesitance in her eyes.

"Then I'd ask that we not talk about your ex any longer," Hermione said after a few long seconds.

"That is more than fine by me," Draco responded and his fingers spread across her back as they swayed in time to the music. They danced in silence for the rest of the song and by the time the next one started playing, her head was close to his chest and his cheek was almost resting against her hair. He couldn't help but smell the scent from her hair and at one point he found that his eyes were closing over as they danced.

Her hand moved down from his shoulder and played with the lapel of his suit jacket before her hand rest on the white shirt he had on underneath. "Your heart is racing," she murmured. He didn't say anything in return but hummed slightly in agreement. He could feel her thumb brush against his chest in time to the slow violin from the band. The song being played was the slowest tempo he'd heard that night and a quick glance upwards found the other people on the dance floor were moving just as slow as he and Hermione were.

"You're a good dancer," he told her after a while.

"So are you. When was the last time you danced?"

"At the Yule Ball."

His answer seemed to surprise her because her thumb stopped moving momentarily before regaining the rhythm. Another song had begun by the time she spoke again. "I've never danced like this."

"What is _this_ , Granger?" He asked and tilted his head slightly to look down at her and could see a faint red tint to her cheek that had nothing to do with any makeup she was wearing.

"You know…" She said. "So closely…It's nice."

"It is," he agreed after a pause, finding that it was more easy to say it than he thought it would be at first. Without even realising it, his fingers had begun to move slightly across the small of her back in time to her thumb against his chest. They were in more of a tight embrace than anything else and both were oblivious to anyone that might have been watching and for once, he wasn't quite caring of what the rest of the people in the room were thinking about him. "Are you leaving soon?" He asked her after a few minutes.

"Yes," she nodded and he felt her forehead brush against his front.

"I will too," he decided.

"Don't go home just because I am. Stay and enjoy the party."

That comment made him chuckle and shake his head. "I haven't enjoyed most of this ball."

"That implies you've enjoyed some."

"Yes, I have," he answered easily and knew that this moment was one of two that he'd enjoyed. The other moment had involved her too and the thought startled him a little. "Shall we leave after this song?"

"I think that sounds good," Hermione nodded and for the rest of the song they swayed quietly and in rhythm with the music, her thumb still moving against his chest and his fingers still on her back.

—

A few minutes after the song had ended found Draco and Hermione outside of the ballroom. The two walked slowly side by side and the atrium was quiet, still and void of any people except them. He had told her before he was taking the floo home and they headed to the rows of fireplaces but neither questioned it as they passed each one until they reached the ones furthest from the ballroom. "I'll be apparating home. I don't want to ruin my dress," she said when they reached the end and she turned slightly to stand a little in front of him.

He looked down at her as she was still slightly shorter than him even though she was wearing high heels. "Good idea," he said and glanced at her dress then back to her face. He'd found in the past half an hour or more, that his eyes had not really strayed from hers which was different to any other time he was around someone where he would find an excuse to look away.

Her hands were down at her front as she smoothed the dress slightly and took a small step forward. When she raised her head to look at him, the two were dangerously close. Draco could smell her familiar scent so potently and knew it would linger on his suit and he didn't mind that one bit. "I shouldn't keep you any longer," he said and his voice was quiet.

Her teeth gently caught some of her bottom lip and she nodded before releasing. She seemed to hold her breath when he raised his hand up and used his thumb to push a strand of her hair away from her face where it had stuck slightly to her lipstick. She smiled from the gesture and he returned the smile and didn't have to force it one bit. Their faces were so close now that he could feel her breath on his chin. He didn't know how long had passed since he'd spoken and his thumb was still gently pressed to her cheek. It truly hit him what they were doing just then and he realised how close they were standing and she seemed to hit the same wall of realisation at the same time.

She stood up straighter and took a small step back. "I hope you enjoyed your night, Draco," she said.

"You too, Hermione," he answered and didn't move. She gave him a small wave and then walked in the opposite direction to head to an apparation point. He stood still and turned his head to watch her walk away but he knew something had changed in the last few minutes and something clicked to him. It clicked that he didn't detest her company nearly as much as he'd once thought he did. Why else would he willingly call her by her first name? And why did he wish that she'd stayed close to him so he could have dipped his head a little more and pressed his lips to hers.

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 **A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I really, really enjoyed writing it! Please leave reviews, they're the biggest help and motivator for me to write more and more chapters. Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter. I'm so glad you enjoyed it and were rooting for them to kiss. Who knows what will happen in the near future... Also a forewarning, this chapter is just under a thousand words short of the average length of the previous chapters and doesn't include Hermione directly; hope you still enjoy!**

* * *

Two days had passed since the Ministry holiday ball and tonight was the night that Narcissa's Christmas ball would be hosted at Malfoy Manor. Draco had stayed the night in his old childhood bedroom on the Saturday and would help his mother with different things during the next afternoon in preparation for the ball that night. Sunday morning dawned and it was the peak of light coming through the gap of the large curtains on the window that woke Draco from his slumber. His room in the Manor was much bigger than his bedroom at home which only had a few pieces of furniture: a bed with side tables, a dresser and a small bookcase. In the bedroom he spent his childhood however, he had a much larger king sized four poster bed, an old but grand sofa that sat under the large paned window of the room, and a dresser with a long standing mirror besides it. All of the furniture was almost as old as the Manor but still looked perfectly polished and varnished, thanks to the house elves' cleaning habits over the years.

Not only was the bedroom large, a generously sized ensuite and walk in wardrobe were attached. It was the bathroom to which Draco headed ten minutes after he woke up. He hadn't had the best sleep due to the unfamiliarity of his old childhood room as he was much more used to his bedroom at home which he'd slept in every night for the last ten years, with the only days missed being the nights before the annual Christmas ball. What also irked him about his sleep was the dream he'd had which had been a repeat of the dream he'd had the night of the Ministry ball. He dreamt that he hadn't stopped dancing with Hermione and when they finally broke apart she lifted her head to kiss him. His dream always ended before their lips could touch and it frustrated him that even in his unconscious state he was still dreaming about the witch that had gotten under his skin. He hated that he dreamt of kissing her and he hated that all he could think about was the sway of her hips, the feeling of her smaller hand in his when they had danced and her short puffs of breath against his chin when they had stood by the Ministry fireplace.

Draco turned on the shower and waited until steam filled the glass cubicle before he undressed out of the white cotton t-shirt and pyjama pants he'd been wearing. Normally he slept only in his boxers, but the threat of a house elf or worse, his _mother_ , walking into his bedroom when he was unawares made him dress properly for bed whenever he stayed over. Once he was undressed he stepped into the shower and adjusted the water to a temperature he could comfortably stand under, and let the water drench his hair and the rest of his body. He shampooed and conditioned his hair and then squirted body soap onto his hands and began to wash his body. It was as he was rubbing the soap over his chest that he remembered the feeling of Hermione's hand brushing against his chest while they had danced and how that action had been the reason for his rising heart rate which she'd commented on. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes as he stood under the water to wash the soap off but closing his eyes only imprinted the vision of her even stronger into his mind. He clenched his fingers into fists and images of her running her hands over his bare chest played behind his eyelids and when he imagined her lips pressing against the juncture of his neck and shoulder, he turned around in the shower and quickly turned the hot water tap off. The cold water jolted his system and he tortured himself under it for thirty-seconds until he had all images of Hermione out of his mind and instead of wanting her arms around him, he wanted a towel wrapped around him, so he turned off the water completely and stepped out to do just that.

He blamed his lustful thoughts about her on the fact that they had become increasingly close over the last two weeks and seeing her appearance at the ball had shocked him. He had never thought of her to be unattractive as an adult (his teenage views were a little more clouded) and the night before had shown to him that she 'cleaned up well' as some would put it. It had been a surprise to him how much he'd come to tolerate her company after spending so many hours with her recently and that was his one reasoning to thinking of her so often. He didn't like her, he didn't want to jump into bed with her, he didn't want to date her. He was simply intrigued over something he'd never thought of before. He pushed the brown haired witch out of his mind and left the bathroom with a towel around his waist and went to the wardrobe and took out a polo shirt and some trousers and after he was dressed and had dried his hair, he went downstairs to have breakfast with his mother in the dining room.

"Good morning, mother," he greeted Narcissa as he walked into the room and took the seat at the head of the table while she sat to the side.

"Good morning to you too," Narcissa said and took a small bite of the scrambled eggs on toast she'd been eating when he came in. "Did you sleep well?"

He started to put different things on his plate from the dishes in front of him, starting with toast and eggs, a few rashers of bacon, a breakfast sausage, and he already had a mug of coffee in front of him. "Reasonably." He bent the truth slightly because he knew if he were to tell the truth about how he had most likely seen every hour through the night, that she would make a large deal out of it.

"Would you like to tell me about the Ministry ball now?" She asked with a hint of expectancy in her voice.

The night before he had arrived at the Manor just after dinner time and had avoided all questions about the ball due to his feelings over what had happened. He'd stated he was simply too tired from the extra work load he'd dealt with that day and after sharing a cup of tea with her, he had retired to bed. "Your theme is different," he offered.

Narcissa sighed in relief. "That's a blessing," she said. "I will never live down the year where we had matching colour themes."

Draco rolled his eyes subtly at his mother's dramatics. "No one would care, mother," he said to her.

"I can name plenty of families who would."

Draco had a feeling he knew who those people would be too, and the majority of them would be in his mother's close group of friends. He really thought that she should consider them acquaintances as the only thing they truly had in common was their affinity with event planning and with that, trying to outdo each other at said events. He could not fault the women that his mother spent her time with though, as they had been her main support system after himself, following the imprisonment of Lucius. That intruding thought was enough to make Draco speak again. That morning had been too full of unwanted thoughts for his liking. "What is the plan for today?" He asked Narcissa.

"Ah-ah, not so fast," she said and gave him a small smile. "I still want to hear about the ball. You normally tell me about it. Did something happen?"

' _What didn't happen_ ', he thought to himself. "No, nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was rather dull but I figured it would be good to go."

"It was a good idea to go," Narcissa nodded. Ever since the conclusion of the war, she had been concerned about the reputation of their family and had done as much as she could to try and restore the Malfoy name. It had been difficult at first with Lucius' imprisonment and then Draco's trial. At first after his trial — with the only punishment he received being a year without his wand and paying a large amount of galleons in compensation money — he had been very unwilling to venture beyond the walls of his bedroom, much less the walls of the Manor and out into the public like his mother insisted they do. The first time she had suggested the idea of going to Diagon Alley he had protested (and rightly so in his opinion) but she badgered him about it until he yelled at her so much so that she refused to speak to him for several days. His act of forgiveness to her had been accompanying her to Diagon Alley for lunch and a wander around the shops. The day had been filled with glares sent mostly his way and some not so subtle 'whispers' when he passed, and when he'd arrived back at the Manor he spent the rest of the week in his room with the only visitor being a house elf to give him breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many months passed with him going out every so often with his mother and then retreating back to his room, forming a habit that he didn't know back then would influence him so much currently. The reason Narcissa had tried to get out of the Manor with him back then was to try and show the world that they had come out of the war as better people and were not afraid of any judgement they would receive. While most people on the streets either kept to themselves or only gave them passing looks, some witches and wizards were rather vocal and open about their dislike for him and his mother and it had taken another couple of years for that to finally stop. Their common appearances in public, Draco's job at the Ministry, and various donations after the war made most of the public come to accept them as reformed, which was what they truly were. Bringing Draco out of his thoughts was his mother asking the question that she so often asked over the last few years, "And did you take a lady along too?"

"No, I didn't," Draco said and picked up his coffee mug and took a drink.

"You should have told me, I could have arranged for someone to—"

Draco cut her off, "I didn't need a date to go with, mother. It's not an absolute essential in life, you know?" He felt slightly rude for sounding so callous but he was tired of hearing the same thing repeated over and over again that he should have a significant other.

"You're almost thirty, Draco, it's time for you to consider settling down," Narcissa said, unperturbed by his tone. He ignored the comment and started to eat the last of his breakfast. "I'm sure all of your friends are in a relationship, most of them are married. Don't you think you should be striving for that as well?"

He'd had enough of the relationship talk which he seemed to be getting badgered about left, right and centre by everyone, and he took one last bite of scrambled eggs, and a sip of coffee and stood up. "I'll be in the hall to help with the set up at noon," he said and walked out of the dining room and made his way outside, grabbing his broom on the way so he could let off some steam for a few hours with a long fly.

—

The guests began to arrive on time at seven o'clock, getting to the Manor through the floo network. Draco and Narcissa greeted them all as they entered and made their way to the 'hall' which was the biggest room in the Manor and the location of all social events Narcissa held. Draco acted as the head of the house in greeting everyone with fake smiles and an uncaring 'how do you do this evening?' and made brief small talk with a few guests that so desired a conversation. Just as he'd gotten out of a conversation with an old business associate of his fathers, Draco turned to greet the newest visitors and was glad to see a familiar face. "Theo," he said and held out his hand to his old school acquaintance. During their time at Hogwarts, the two never really spoke to each other but due to Blaise being a mutual friend, in the years following the conclusion of their schooling they both got to know each other and became friends.

"Hello," Theodore shook his hand back. "Been a while. Where have you been hiding? I don't even see you around the Ministry anymore." Theo worked in the Department of Mysteries and if Draco were to be honest, he did see Nott around the place every so often but never had the initiative to go up to him. He was fine only catching up with the bloke at events such as this.

"Work," Draco answered simply with a chuckle. "Pleasure to see you, Mrs Nott," he turned to Theo's mother who had just greeted Narcissa. He shook her hand and then directed them both to the makeshift ballroom.

"You can go see that everyone's found their way. Not many people are set to arrive now, I can handle it," Narcissa told him and Draco was eager to get away from the greetings so didn't protest in the slightest, and headed to the hall. The entire afternoon had been filled with decorating the room, with the help of the house elves, to his mother's standards and while he could use his wand for moving around chairs and tables, Narcissa preferred him to not use magic in the more finer aspects of the decorations. The room had 'turned out beautifully' according to Narcissa and even Draco had to agree. While it was much smaller than the Ministry's ball, it was every bit as extravagant and really set the scene of what was occurring. He took a glass of champagne off a tray one of the Manor's house elves was carrying around, and he wandered through the crowd, tipping his head in acknowledgement or saying a brief 'hello' if someone were to speak to him. Ever since he was a child, he had been expected to attend such events as this so he was used to the grandeur of the setting, the clothing, and the blatant attempts of many people to try and out do each other, whether it be with what they were wearing or the stories they were telling. Since his father's imprisonment, Draco also had to make conversation with many of his old business comrades and had perfected the answers he'd given in those chats over the years. While he hated being dubbed the head of the house when it came to events like this, he would always do it for his mother as he knew how much she enjoyed such things and the pride she got from it when she was complimented for weeks afterwards.

Unlike the Ministry ball, he couldn't find a quiet place to stay for the whole night, so he walked around the hall several times and stopped to talk at whoever wanted to. Draco never liked initiating the conversation, which was a bad trait his mother pulled him up for, but he had always been like that. Just one hour into the party he was sucked into a rather lengthy conversation with Barnabas Jorens who had been an old friend of Lucius' and was trying hard to get Draco to follow in his father's footsteps of becoming a businessman instead of working at the Ministry. Draco acted moderately interested in what the old man had to say, and supplied a few words here and there to keep him talking, but really didn't take in any information he was saying. It felt like too long that he was stuck in the conversation and he tried not to grimace at how the man's neck — which resembled that of a turkey's — wobbled about as he spoke. Just as Draco was about to use his well formulated white lie of 'I see my mother beckoning me over, please excuse me' to get out of the conversation, he felt a hand on his arm. When he looked at the person who the hand belonged to he cursed in his head but kept a passive expression. "Excuse me, but do you mind if I borrow Draco for the time being?" Astoria asked Barnabas sweetly.

"Of course, my dear. I've kept the poor boy for far too long," he chortled and went off in the other direction.

Draco was still staring at Astoria. He hadn't been this close to her in at least four years and he could definitely tell a difference. She looked…happier, would be the only way for him to describe it. Her lips seemed to be curled up into a small effortless smile and her eyes shone like she'd just been given the most wonderful news. He prayed the Gods she wasn't looking like that because of his presence but quickly told himself to get off his high horse. "Hello, Astoria," he greeted her. "Have you been well?" He spoke to her as formally as he would speak to other guests in the hall and she knew it. He didn't think he'd ever be able to return back to the way he used to speak to her so comfortably. He could barely speak to anyone in the same way he used to speak to Astoria years ago.

"I've been very well," she responded and looped her arm through his and started walking towards a free table and he couldn't help but envisage in his mind how he had walked with Hermione in a similar fashion during the Ministry ball. "I saw you the other night. Did you see me?"

Draco had grabbed a new flute of champagne off a passing tray and looked across the ballroom as he answered. "No, I didn't know you were attending."

"That's a shame. I was hoping we could have spoken."

Draco took a drink of his champagne as he sat opposite her and looked out at the socialising guests. "Was there a reason you needed to speak to me?"

"Could simply wanting to be a good enough reason for you?" She asked and he looked at her briefly and saw her smile. Without him answering, she laughed softly. "I thought so…" The silence was not as awkward for him as it must be for her. He was used to long pauses (initiated by him) and not speaking for minutes at a time and he found that he was only able to do that easily with Hermione unlike other people who woulds simply look concerned, frustrated or both. He'd done the same with Astoria when they'd dated and he knew she hated it and always wanted to fill the silence with some form of talking. This time however, she surprised him as she didn't say anything either and they both sat together for what seemed like a much longer time than it most likely was. "I don't know why I feel nervous telling you this…" She said with a slight smile and played with a ring on her finger.

Draco finally looked over at her, "Telling me what?" He asked. He couldn't see her fingers toying with the ring on her hand until she lifted it up and he saw exactly what it was. A diamond engagement ring on her left ring finger. For once, he was unintentionally speechless. He couldn't place what he felt, but he knew it wasn't sadness or jealousy. He remembered back to when they had dated and he'd always assumed that _eventually_ he would have been pressured by his mother, Astoria, her mother, or all three, into proposing to her. Years ago he would never have seen this conversation — or lack thereof at the moment — occurring. He finally found his words, and said, "Congratulations," to her.

"Thank you," she said and lowered her hand back to her lap.

"Who's the lucky man?" Draco asked and he saw her smile from his question.

"His name is Daniel," she said. "He works in the apothecary in Diagon Alley, we met three years ago."

Draco couldn't think of much else to say and he picked up his champagne flute again. "When's the ceremony?" He asked and then took a drink.

She paused before answering. "Next month… I'll need to still fit into my wedding dress before the baby gets any bigger."

In an action that Draco hoped no one but Astoria had seen, he inhaled so suddenly from shock that he had to cough to try and regain his breath and get the champagne he'd breathed in, out of his lungs. Astoria leaned forward with a look of concern and he sat up in his chair to avoid her hand that was coming out to pat him on the back. "I'm fine," he said and cleared his throat once more and glanced around, glad no one was looking at him or was making it apparent they'd seen him coughing like a fool. "You're pregnant?"

"Three months tomorrow," Astoria nodded. "Draco, I didn't know you'd act thi—"

"No," he shook his head. "It's not what you're thinking. I'm just shocked is all. Congratulations again," he told her and saw her expression and gave her a tiny hint of a smile. "I'm happy for you, Astoria. Really."

"That means the world, Draco," Astoria beamed. "Would it be imprudent of me to ask for a hug?" She asked.

Who was he to deny a pregnant woman? A pregnant woman who had been his significant other for just over two years, at that. He stood up from the chair and Astoria's sheepish smile from her question turned bright and she stood before him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders while his wrapped around her waist. The position was familiar even after all these years and he could remember the happiness that had once come with it and then the tearful goodbye she'd given him at the end of their relationship after joining together for the last time, as she'd hugged him, staining his shirt with her tears, and then apparated from his house. She was quiet too and he could only guess that she was thinking of the same thing. The hug went on for a few more seconds and just as she was about to pull away, he said "You'll be a great mother," quietly in her ear and he heard a soft sniffle and her arms wrapped tighter around him.

* * *

 **A/N: Apologies for the amount of time it took me to upload. I found this chapter rather hard to find inspiration for and due to a hand injury and recent personal struggles, writing hasn't been that easy. Some real life issues got in the way of the last four hundred or so words, so I'm hoping that doesn't reflect too badly in the writing, but I felt like I owed it to you guys to put out a chapter even if it is shorter. The break between the next chapter may also be a bit longer but who can tell at this point. Anyway, I'll quit rambling. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: A little bit of a longer chapter to make up for the small one before - hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Draco's annual day of Christmas shopping always fell on Christmas Eve. It wasn't that he was unprepared as such, he just needed a lot of time to properly think of what to get as gifts for other people. Other people being his mother, Blaise and Pansy, and then substituting a card as a gift for Harry as a small thanks for the past. It was nothing heartfelt, and he always made sure to get a card that already had 'Merry Christmas' written inside, so he could simply sign 'D.M' at the bottom. He had managed to find Pansy and his mother a gift, getting both of them some goblin made jewellery (earrings for Pansy and a necklace for his mother) and he was still to get his gift for Blaise. The search for his friend's present started in Flourish and Blotts as his plan was to get Blaise the latest leather-bound issue of his favourite series of Arithmancy textbooks. He'd often teased the other wizard about his fascination with the topic but since he'd found out about it almost seven years ago, he'd gotten him a copy of a popular range of factual texts every year.

The bookshop wasn't as crowded as the other shops in Diagon Alley, but it was definitely getting more customers than it would receive in an average day. A large majority of customers were gathered in the children's books or fiction sections of the store, leaving the back shelves filled with non fiction books to be relatively quiet. He stopped abruptly in his tracks when a small child of around five years old ran across the aisle in front of him and he heard an apology from who he assumed was the child's parent, but didn't acknowledge them and kept walking once the path was clear. He was very close to casting a Muffliato charm on _himself_ to keep out the sounds of children running and giggling and people chatting loudly, unaware that a bookshop had its best atmosphere when the only sounds that could be heard were the faint flipping of book pages. When he was safely between the shelves of the non fiction section he had to look around as there had been a change in the layout and where Arithmancy books were normally kept, was now taken up with books on cauldrons and cauldron making. He rounded the corner to the next shelves and was surprised at first (he would realise why it was not so surprising later) to see Hermione standing with her back to him, looking at a book that she'd taken from the section on magical creatures.

His first immediate thought upon seeing her, was of their goodbye at the Ministry ball. He didn't feel very awkward about it because nothing had happened between them even though every morning since then he'd had to endure a cold shower just to get her out of his mind. Seeing her so enraptured with the book brought a small involuntary smile to his lips, and he walked forward quietly, aiming to give her a bit of a surprise. He lowered his voice slightly when he spoke, as to imitate someone else. "Excuse me, are you Hermione Granger?"

His little trick had worked as she responded with, "Yes, who ar—" as she turned around and closed the book, but raised an eyebrow when she found him standing before her. She smiled then and shook her head with a small laugh. "You had me fooled, Malfoy. I won't deny it." His first impression was that she wasn't too fussed about their last meeting since there was definitely no tension between them, nor was she blushing and fumbling like she would do when she found herself embarrassed in his presence, which he'd been witness to at some of their meetings.

"Oh, I know," he smirked and looked down at the book in her hands and saw a picture of a Hippogriff on the front. "Interested in the rights of Hippogriff's now are we?"

"No. Well, yes, I'm always interested in the rights of animals, but I'm going to get this book for Harry," she explained.

"I see," he said and looked around and spotted the sign with 'Arithmancy' written on it above the next section of books to the magical creature ones. He moved around her to begin searching the spines to try and find what he was after.

"Hodgkin's series are the best to read if you're interested in arithmancy," Hermione said when she saw him looking at the books.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to find."

"Oh you are? I enjoyed them tremendously, I'm actually going to buy the latest one in the series but after Christmas. I always have to remind myself to stick to my list and not buy any books for myself," she laughed.

He found himself laughing too as he bent down to look at some of the bottom shelves, but she couldn't see his face. "I'm not interested in arithmancy in the slightest," he said. "I'm actually getting one for Blaise. The same one that you want too."

"Zabini? I haven't thought about him in a long while. Although he just got engaged to Pansy Parkinson, right?" She asked and he nodded in confirmation. "I remember seeing it somewhere in the Prophet. Do you keep in touch with them?"

"Now and then," Draco answered truthfully.

"Who do you keep in touch with from school?"

Draco found the book he was after and pulled it out and double checked on the blurb that it was the latest edition. "A few people," he answered distractedly. When he found that the book in his hands was definitely the one he was after, he looked up to Hermione to see her staring at it too. "Now, now, Granger. Stick to your list," he reminded her teasingly.

Hermione smiled and nodded. "You're right. I need to get other gifts still."

"It's good to know someone like you is just as slack as I am when it comes to presents," he said with a small chuckle.

"Who knew we'd ever be so similar," she said teasingly and he knew it from her smile. "Are you working after Christmas?"

"Bright and early on Boxing Day," he nodded.

"Great. I'll see you then?" She asked with a smile and he nodded again. "See you, Malfoy." She gave a small wave and headed to the counter.

Draco gave a small wave back and then turned to the bookshelf again and looked at where he'd pulled out the book from. There were four other copies still sitting on the shelf and he replayed her expression in his mind when she'd seen the book in his hands. Without even double thinking it, he reached down and picked another copy off the shelf and took both to the front counter to pay. After getting his change and the books put in two separate brown bags, he walked quicker than normal out of the bookshop and scanned left and right, trying to spot her. He couldn't see her at all and took a chance and turned right down Diagon Alley and glanced into every few shops he passed, trying to find her. She ended up being outside of the Quidditch shop, looking into the window and he walked right up to her side. "Fancy seeing you here," he said.

"Hello stranger," she said with a smile when she lifted her head and looked at him. "Are you stalking me now?"

He scoffed and then held out the brown paper bag to her and watched her expression as she took it curiously then withdrew the book from within. "Merry Christmas," he offered.

Her eyebrows raised and she slid the book back into the bag when she realised what it was. "I can't take this," she said and tried to give it back to him but he refused to hold it.

"That's rather rude to refuse my gift before you've even properly opened it," he joked but still didn't take the bag back. "It's a present, Granger. Know how those work?"

"You didn't need to get me this, Draco," she said and pulled the book out and ran her finger along the cover. "I…"

"You don't need to do or say anything," he told her and she looked up at him. "Consider it a thank you."

"A thank you for what?" She asked but he paused and didn't answer and was glad when she didn't push him to. "Can I at least say thank you?"

To lighten the mood, he smirked and said, "I was expecting it."

She laughed and held the book with one hand and then doing something Draco _wasn't_ expecting, she stepped forward and hugged him. It was short and she was the first one to pull away and his hand barely even grazed her back, but it still surprised him. He looked down at her when she stepped back to her previous spot and he saw the faint red blush high on her cheekbones. "Thank you," she said.

"We're work partners now. I thought I'd give you something," he said and she laughed.

"Are you trying to make me feel bad now? I haven't found anything I think you'd like…"

"You don't need to get me anything," Draco said. "I'm a, what did you call it? A grinch? I don't need a present."

"Everyone needs presents. Grinches or not," Hermione said. "Are you busy the rest of today?" She asked and he shook his head. "Come join me. I'll be here for a while you can tag around if you want? I can find you a present too," she smiled.

"I don't know about the last part," Draco said. "But I'll join." He had nothing else planned for the rest of the day except wrapping three presents with the help of his wand and a handy spell, and that would take all of five minutes.

She looked down at a watch on her wrist, "Shall we have lunch?" She asked. "It's where I was heading too anyway."

"Lead the way." The both of them walked with a reasonable space between them and his mind kept drifting back to the hug they'd just had. It obviously was out of thanks and happiness and had been incredibly short but he felt comfortable with it, which surprised him. He wasn't a hugger and he'd had enough struggle giving Astoria one when she'd asked the night she'd told him of her impending marriage and child, but not once had he thought about denying Hermione just then and he'd willingly hugged her back. She confused the hell out of him and it was enough to make him stay quiet until they'd reached a cafe and she asked for a table. "Cat got your tongue?" She asked when they were seated and given menus.

"No," he said but didn't elaborate.

"Alright. Oh!" She seemed to remember something. "Tell me how your mother's ball went."

"It was just the same as the Ministry one but smaller," Draco said. "Except I had to involve myself in a _lot_ of dull business conversations."

"Ah, they are the best kind to be in," she laughed and grinned.

He smiled back at her, "It was splendid. And what was even better was that I didn't have any firewhiskey to ease the pain suffered from those conversations," he joked.

She laughed again and then looked up at the waitress who had returned to their table. "We'll have a latte and a long black to drink, and I'll have a chicken salad."

"Pork sandwich for me," he added when the waitress looked at him and then was on her way. "You have my coffee memorised. Are you sure you're not the stalker?" He teased.

"It's just a testament to how often we have coffee together," she smiled. "So, did you enjoy your family ball better?"

"Merlin no," Draco shook his head. "I played my dutiful little part of being a perfect Malfoy, smiling and making small talk but it was as dull as watching paint dry. The Ministry ball was much better, if not for other reasons."

"Which are?" She pressed and he had looked away from her just as she lifted a finger to scratch the side of her mouth and hide a small smile.

"Hm?" He pretended not to understand because he really didn't want to answer that her company had made it slightly better.

She rolled her eyes before he turned back to her and then said, "I'm guessing Astoria attended your mother's ball too?"

Draco nodded, meeting her eyes again. "Wait…" He realised. "Why would you guess that?"

"I figured your families would be close," she explained. "Cut from the same cloth so to speak, no offence." His grunt and shrug implied 'none taken'. "And she also told me."

"Why would she tell you?" He asked with furrowed brows in confusion. "I would never have pictured you two to associate."

"We don't very often," she said.

"That's why she came to you looking for me at the Ministry ball?"

Hermione nodded with a smile and then thanked the waitress who'd just brought forward their coffees and then left. "She had something to tell you."

"And she told me alright…" Draco sighed and picked up his coffee and took a sip even though it was hot, but he masked the slight pain he felt from burning the roof of his mouth. "You know about it too?" He asked and she nodded in return. "How?"

"Her fiancé, Daniel, is a friend," she said and took three sugar tubes from the little cup in the middle of the table. As she poured them in one by one and stirred, she chose to ignore the slight grimace he was giving. "We got to know each other over the years since I was a regular customer at the apothecary. I catch up with him and sometimes with Astoria too, every so often."

"Small world," Draco murmured.

"How'd you take the news?" She asked and looked quite serious.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes at her expression. "I'm not in love with her, Granger. I wasn't heartbroken which she seemed to think I would be. I'm happy for her, she deserves all that she didn't get from me," he said and surprised himself with how honest and open he was being with her.

"Is that why the both of you broke up?"

"Are you interviewing me for Witch Weekly?" He joked to lighten the mood and it did make them both smile. "It was part of the reason. I wasn't ready for kids or marriage when that's what she wanted," he answered her question. "We just grew apart otherwise."

"Mmm," she hummed and took a drink of her latte. "I can relate completely."

"Happened with you and Weasley I take it?" He assumed.

She nodded, "And it only took one pregnancy scare to realise it."

"Shit…" His eyes widened slightly and he took a drink of his coffee. "Just a scare?"

"Thank Merlin," she said with a light laugh. "That's why I refused his offer to try our relationship again last week."

He chuckled and put his mug down. "Guess we're cut from the same cloth too, so you put it."

"Guess we are," she smiled at him. Their lunch arrived then and both were too hungry to wait, so they ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes. His sandwich was delicious and he made a mental note to himself to return to the cafe in the future when it wasn't so crowded with hungry, boisterous Christmas shoppers; he was shocked they'd even got a table. "Have you finished your Christmas shopping?"

"I have indeed. All four presents which was originally going to be three."

"Four?" She asked and then saw the paper bag with her new book, and smiled. "You really didn't have to get me that you know."

"I know I didn't," Draco said. "I didn't _have_ to but I wanted to. Simple as that ."

"Why though? You've got to give me an answer this time."

Now he was thrust out of his comfort zone and he immediately looked away from her and grabbed his coffee cup. He looked out at the rest of the people in the cafe and took a drink and all the while she waited patiently and let him gather himself before replying. If it were any other person, he wouldn't have replied at all or even thought about what he would answer. "We may not know each other a lot, but I…appreciate your company," he said, finding it hard to find the right word to use and not sound like he had some obscene fascination with her (even though he did think of her outside of work but that was besides the point in his opinion).

"I appreciate your company too," Hermione said and smiled at him when he looked back at her. "I enjoyed the night of the Ministry ball, too. I didn't get to mention that," she said but her voice was slightly meeker.

"As did I. And you got me to do a near impossible feat," he smirked.

"Which is?"

"Getting me to dance." She laughed and he chuckled too.

"I hardly did it, you were running away from Astoria and I happened to be the first one to bump into you," she rolled her eyes.

"That may be so, but I could have easily asked us to go talk somewhere else. But we danced," he shrugged and ate some more of his sandwich.

"Well, thank you for that. I danced with Harry and Neville and you were the best out of them by far," she smiled.

"You don't need to tell me that twice," he snorted. "So are you still friends with a lot of the people you would associate with in school?" He asked.

"Yes, we'll catch up as much as we can," Hermione nodded. "It's a bit harder now because of my position at work and everyone else has work and children to tend to, but whenever we can, we'll make a point to see each other. Do you still catch up with your friends?" She asked and he didn't miss the hesitation in her voice at her last word.

He shrugged. "Sort of. Like you, I'm busy and they are too, but I'm fine with not meeting up with them every week," he said. _'As much as they insist_ ' he thought in his mind and remembered he'd been invited to visit Blaise and Pansy tomorrow for Christmas lunch but he'd conveniently forgotten to respond to them. He'd finished his sandwich then and used the napkin next to his plate to wipe his fingers free of crumbs and he looked out to the cafe while Hermione finished off her salad.

"Ready to go?" She asked after a few minutes when she'd finished and wiped around her lips with her own napkin. He nodded and they both stood up, grabbing their things. "I'll pay for this, I'll meet you outside," she said since there was a lineup at the cash register to pay. He didn't reject since he knew what had happened last time he'd paid for the both of them, and it was far too busy in the cafe now that he didn't want to spend any extra time there. He left through the front door and stood to the side and put his hands deep in his coat pockets. It wasn't snowing but it felt cold enough that it could be. People rushed through the alley with their coats wrapped tightly around their bodies and scarves wound around their necks. Children ran alongside their parents, excited with the prospect of the next day and what gifts they would receive, mittens on their hands and beanies on their heads, unperturbed by the frantic air about everyone in Diagon Alley. His eyes wandered down the street and he saw the sign for the apothecary and thought about Astoria and her fiancé that worked there and that got him wondering whether he'd be invited to the wedding. He didn't care if he wasn't, but if he was asked to go he would without complaint. He realised that it was time to start bridging the gap back between him and Astoria that had broken down over the years after their breakup. He wasn't looking to be best buddies with her or start visiting her every week, but he didn't want to keep running in the opposite direction if he passed her in the street.

He was still deep in thought when Hermione returned to him and he only realised when she stood in front of him. "Consider that part of my present," he said and they both began walking.

"Not a chance. I'm getting you a proper present, something tangible," she laughed and then went in the direction of a small trinket shop. "Ginny loves these little things," she said and thanked him when he held the door open for her. "I know if I get her a birthday or Christmas gift from here, she'll be happy."

"What is this place?" Draco asked. He figured it was a figuratively new shop, or he was just very unobservant, as he had never even glanced its way. The shop was filled with soothing music and he could smell something that seemed to be wafting through the air and it made him almost want to sneeze.

"It's just a shop with anything and everything," Hermione answered. The shop truly looked like it had tried to fit everything in existence into it. There was clutter _everywhere_ , on tables and dressers and end tables and any available surface. He saw price tags on the makeshift counters too and wondered how in the hell anyone would be able to buy them when there was so many items on top. Most of it looked like old knick-knacks but he could tell they were being sold as quirky items to decorate a home. He snorted to himself thinking about what his house would look like if he started putting up different canvas pictures or decorating the rooms with old furniture and unusual crafted items. "What's so funny?" Hermione asked and he realised she was still right in front of him.

"Oh, nothing," he brushed off and picked up what looked like a miniature model of a racing broom but it was made entirely out of tin. "Why does anyone have a need for this?"

She picked the broom from his hands and surveyed it seriously and even looked at the price tag attached. "It's nice to decorate with little things like this," she said and kept a hold of the model. "Thanks for picking this up by the way. My first present is complete," she chuckled and headed down the shop to look at other things. He found it difficult to navigate in the narrow spaces and watched her slip between tables and walk in places that he would never go in for fear of knocking the many items off their safe spaces. He found a table of candles and wax melts and even candle wax that had been poured into old cigarette tin cases as their holder. It was all very ingenious stuff and he smelt a lot of the different candles but never would he even think about getting one and he contained his need to snort at the thought of various scented candles throughout his house. He moved away from the table when Hermione walked past and he followed behind her and without even realising it, his eyes drifted down her back and watched the gentle sway of her hips as she walked and how snug her jeans were… He averted his eyes back up to a reasonable area and mentally scolded himself for his slight ogling when she had stopped walking to turn and look at a few cushions with different patterns on them. He walked past her and then looked down at something that was sticking out of the aisle slightly from underneath a table. He bent down and pulled out what was an old leather trunk.

Curiosity took hold and he unclipped the clasps on the trunk and opened it up. Inside were the four balls used in Quidditch and his eyes widened slightly. They looked slightly different to the Quidditch equipment he was used to, almost like the people who had made them hadn't really known what would be best. The bludgers didn't rattle around the box and weren't even pinned down and he figured out that they had long lost their magic. He even saw the small hole on the top of the trunk that held the snitch and he pulled it out. The golden ball didn't look very golden anymore and he carefully pulled the wings out to find that one was damaged, and he tucked them back into the tiny sphere and put it back in its place. The box amazed him and the more he looked at it the more he had a desire to have it. Not to use when he played Quidditch but to have in his house (any maybe show off once in a while). He closed the trunk and clasped it up and then picked it up off the ground and knew his hands were covered in dust. He thought about how this treasure hadn't been sold already but then he realised, with a shop as cluttered as this, it would take days for anyone to trundle through every single item to find this hidden gem.

"What's that?" Hermione asked when she walked up to him and she already had a variety of things in her hands that were for Ginny.

"Old Quidditch trunk," he responded. "I'm going to get it. I really had my skepticisms about this shop but I was proved wrong," he chuckled.

"That can be your Christmas present from me!" She said excitedly.

"Granger, no, it's thirty galleons. I can get it myself."

He saw her expression falter when he told her the price and he knew that she no doubt had converted it to its Muggle equivalent. "You spent fifteen galleons on my present," she told him. "Let me pay half of the trunk."

"No, Granger, I can't—"

"Tough," she said with finality. "I'm paying half. If I don't I'll constantly be riddled with guilt."

"Can't have that, can we?"

"We most certainly cannot! I'm afraid I would have to be around you every day so I could badger you about it," she joked.

"Maybe I shouldn't let you pay, then," Draco said, letting his thoughts slip out of his mouth, and he masked his seriousness with a smirk.

She gave him a cheeky grin right back. "Maybe," she said and winked at him before turning and walking away which rendered him speechless for a few seconds before he found his brain again and followed after her and saw they were heading to a cash register at the front. He knew (at least he thought he did) that she'd been joking around with him and the wink was only playful but it still stirred something deep inside of him that had him looking at her out the corner of his eye when he placed the Quidditch trunk up on the counter at the front of the store. He watched as she paid for her items and when she looked up at him he pretended he'd been watching the store clerk wrap the delicate items she'd bought in newspaper, instead of looking at her. She didn't seem to suspect anything which was good and after they'd made their payments they headed from the shop. He cast a shrinking charm on the trunk once they'd left the store so he was able to carry it around and not look like he was lugging around a huge trunk filled with Merlin knows what.

"Thanks for half a present," he teased Hermione as they walked and she laughed and bumped her arm into his.

"It means I only half like you," she joked.

He smiled genuinely and faced ahead as they walked. "I can deal with that," he said and they kept having to dodge between oncoming shoppers. "I don't see the need to rush with Christmas shopping," he said and followed her into the Quidditch shop.

"Sometimes people stress because what they wanted to buy isn't available anymore," Hermione said as she browsed the shelf filled with broom maintenance equipment.

"Yes, but that's why people need to shop earlier if they know what they want to buy is something that might run out quickly."

"Why don't you shop earlier then?" She asked curiously.

"Because books and jewellery never runs out," he answered easily. "That's the only presents I give. Why don't you shop earlier?"

"I guess it's subconscious reasoning to what you said," Hermione mused, pausing from her browsing. "I know the things I want and anytime I've gone to get presents this late, there's never anything that's sold out. I try to think outside the box with gifts," she shrugged.

"I think you proved it back in that junkyard of a store," he joked.

"It is pretty crowded isn't it?" She laughed and then picked up a few different items from the shelf. "The first time I went in there I panicked from how claustrophobic it was."

"I was just too terrified to move and bump something."

"Trust me, you don't want that happening," she said and something about the way she said it made him press further.

"What did you do?" He asked and found his smile growing as he looked at her roll her eyes and get a soft blush on her cheeks.

"My coat _may_ have caught on a wire decoration…"

"Tell me you didn't."

"I did," she nodded and grinned. "I pulled, I'd say, about ten items off the table from that one little slip up. You won't _believe_ the noise it made!"

He pressed his hand to his stomach as he laughed. "Trust me, Granger, I can," he said and continued to laugh as she joined in and tried to hit his hand in embarrassment. He hadn't laughed that genuinely in a very long time and it had been something so simple to set it off. As he looked down at Hermione who was still laughing with him he knew for sure that right then, he didn't just think of her as the straight backed, all business woman that irked him for putting three sugars in her coffee, like he'd once thought her to be. He knew that without any trying on her behalf, that she'd been making him realise that simple things like smiling and laughing weren't as hard as he'd made them out to be. She'd shaped him to _enjoying_ spending time outside of his own self and mind and be in her presence. It wasn't love. It wasn't even close to infatuation; but Hermione Granger was beginning to shape Draco Malfoy into the man that he'd never thought he could be.

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 **A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter and don't worry; their shopping adventures will continue into chapter seven! Please review because your comments really mean the world to me. I'm open to any and all suggestions of what you want to see happen, any predictions, constructive criticism and just general comments! Thanks for your support, hope you enjoyed! P.S 30 galleons = 150 UK pounds and 15 galleons = 75 UK pounds.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Apologies for slower updates than it was when I first published this fic. Things like work and everything that comes with that, and other things happening in my life cause me to be unable to sit and write for an extended period of time and I find myself writing at around 10-11pm every night which isn't ideal. Will be trying to write a bit more in the coming weeks, but no promises on faster updates. Hope you understand and enjoy this chapter.**

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After sobering from their laughter, Draco and Hermione continued to wander through the Quidditch shop, however both of them looking at different things. Draco gravitated towards the back wall of the shop where brooms were displayed and looked at the recent model of his own broom he had at the Manor. He considered buying another one to have at his home, but as he lived in a Muggle neighbourhood, flying was really only possible when he visited his mother's house. He refused help from a store worker, saying he was only looking, and turned his attention to the latest model. There were a few other people standing around it; the _Swift 11_ it was called, a sub-brand under the Nimbus company name. He longed to know what the broom would feel like to fly but he knew realistically if he bought it, it would spend more time on the ground than in the air.

"Are you looking at buying one?" Hermione asked when she came up to stand next to him. When he looked at her he saw she had a bag with her purchases.

"No, just having a look," he said. "Done?"

"For Ron at least," she nodded. At that, they both left the Quidditch shop, thankfully just as a large group of teenage boys wandered towards the door, their loud, excited talking making Draco grit his teeth in annoyance. "Oh, I didn't realise how long we've been shopping," she said and he saw her looking at her watch. He checked his own and saw that they'd been together for just coming on two hours. It was hard to believe that as he felt the time had passed so quickly, but with their coffee and lunch break at the start, it made sense.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Draco asked.

"No, no," she shook her head, "I was just thinking that it's felt so much quicker." The corner of his lip turned up briefly as he had just been thinking the same thing.

"Do you need to get anymore presents?"

"Yes, just one for my mum," Hermione nodded. "I'm getting her a nice pair of gloves and a matching scarf from Madam Malkin's," she smiled, obviously pleased with her gift choice.

"Sounds nice," Draco said and looked up with a grimace when a round drop of water dripped onto his head from the awning they were walking under. He pushed his hand through his hair and missed the fact that Hermione had glanced up at him and didn't really look away. He realised when he went to look at her and she turned away quickly and he saw the slight redness on her cheeks which he convinced himself was due to the cold weather.

His heart jumped and his hand moved down to his side where he kept his wand when he was suddenly bombarded and someone clasped the back of his neck tightly. Hermione startled too and moved to the side also reached for her wand until they both saw that the perpetrator was Blaise. "What are you doing, arsehole?" Draco asked, slightly pissed off for being so off-guard and jumping to conclusions of needing his wand.

"Could ask you the same question," Blaise said and had a very smug look on his face which didn't go past Draco. "How do you do, Granger?" He asked Hermione who was still looking quite startled from the sudden 'greeting' of friends.

"Fine, thank you," she answered and gathered herself again.

"What are you two doing?" He asked and Draco tried to give the taller wizard a warning glare. "Didn't know you two were seeing each other; this is why you need to catch up more, Draco," he clapped Draco on the back again.

"We're not—" Hermione started.

"Shut it," Draco said through clenched teeth to Blaise. "We just bumped into each other."

"We've been walking around for a bit," Hermione finished.

Blaise lifted his hands in surrender and still had a smirk on his face. "Okay, okay. Waving my white flag now," he joked and pretended to do just that.

" _Blaise_ , stop buggering off!" Another voice joined the group of three and Pansy came to her fiancé's side. She was — as always — dressed to the nines with an expensive looking buttoned up long coat, dark jeans and boots, and a matching scarf and beanie atop her head. In her hands were several shopping bags which hit against his side as she moved forward to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Hello," she greeted him and when she pulled back, realised Hermione's presence. Draco could notice that the latter was standing a little straighter and had even subtly tugged down the front of her jumper when Pansy stood back. "Granger," Pansy said and Draco was surprised to hear that her voice was light and lacking of any malice, although she did seem surprised.

"Nice to see you," Hermione said. "It's been quite a while." Draco didn't know if Pansy and Hermione had ever spoken in a civil context or even been within ten metres of each other since they last saw each other in Hogwarts. He knew that Pansy was no longer the same malicious girl she'd been in school and while she was still slightly catty at times, she never openly attacked anyone, especially for their blood which she had been prone to do in her teenage years.

"It has," Pansy agreed to her statement. "Christmas shopping?" She asked both her and Draco.

"No, not at all," Draco drawled sarcastically and he heard Blaise snort, appreciating the remark.

Pansy rolled her eyes daintily. "Are you coming tomorrow?" She asked and he felt all eyes on him, even Hermione's.

"Maybe," Draco answered truthfully because he really didn't want to go.

Pansy sighed and now it was Blaise's turn to roll his eyes. "Just come, mate. It's only going to be me and Pans."

"Doesn't matter who's there," he answered. "Look, it will depend on my mother. You know how she gets during this time of the year." At that comment, both Pansy and Blaise seemed to understand slightly and the latter nodded. Draco looked away from them all and down the Alley and from averting his eyes, he briefly saw Hermione with a confused look on her face.

"Uh… Well I best be off," Hermione broke the silence. "It was nice seeing you," she said and looked at Pansy and Blaise. "You too, Malfoy."

Draco looked back to them and gave her a slight smirk. "Can't get rid of me that easy," he said. "I have something to pick up from Madam Malkin's too." She smiled at that.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Pansy said to Draco. "One way or another."

"See you," Blaise said too, and the couple strolled in the opposite direction.

Draco said goodbye and walked with Hermione towards the robe shop. "They aren't anything like I remember," Hermione said after a minute. "I didn't really know Blaise in school and I think that's the first time we've ever spoken since then."

"And Pansy?" Draco asked.

"I was the one that helped her a few years ago with moving her mother to France."

"That was you?" Draco asked and she nodded. He remembered the large fuss it had caused when Pansy's mother wanted to move two years after the war had concluded due to the Ministry believing she had ulterior motives due to her husband's work in being a Death Eater. Pansy had been a frazzled mess trying to get someone to help her get her mother to be able to move, and it seemed that she'd found Hermione as that person.

"What do you need to get from Madam Malkin's?" She asked.

"I don't," he answered. "I just said that so I could leave otherwise I know they would have pulled me into going tomorrow."

"You should."

"And why is that?" He asked and held open the door to the robe shop for her.

"Because it's Christmas. Whether you like the day or not, you shouldn't spend it alone," she said. Normally he would have brushed it off with a remark but the sincerity of her tone made him think and he didn't answer. She let him retreat into his own mind and didn't ask any further questions and made her way to the part of the shop that was displaying hats, gloves and scarves. Twenty minutes later, she was done and had the bag with her purchases for her mother and Draco had been sitting on the comfortable chairs by the window. He stood up when she approached him. "Sorry, I didn't think it would take that long."

"Stop apologising, Granger," Draco dismissed and held open the door for her again and then put his hands in his pockets as they walked. They were quiet for a while and passed all the shops they'd visited today. It had gotten colder and darker, a typical London Christmas Eve, but there was still no sign of snow for which he was grateful. Nothing good came from snow — only freezing temperatures, slush, and constantly wet shoes and socks. It was still as busy as it was when he began shopping and at some points he even struggled walking next to Hermione due to the sheer amount of people walking in the opposite direction, only concerned with getting their purchases rather than watching where they were walking.

"Are you going home now?" Hermione asked him when they reached the main entrance of Diagon Alley and they moved to a quiet spot out of the way of passing shoppers.

He shrugged and answered, "I might stay for a drink," and nodded his head towards the back entrance of the Leaky Cauldron. "Want to join?"

She looked at her watch and bit her bottom lip. "Maybe just one, I still need to wrap all of the things I bought then pack for tomorrow."

"You don't have to," Draco said.

"No, I will," she assured him. He didn't argue and walked into the pub and went to the bar where he ordered some firewhiskey and Hermione got some chardonnay. When they got their drinks, she led the way to a small table off to the side and took a seat, placing her bags down on the floor by her feet. "You said to Blaise before that you need to be there for your mother on Christmas. Do you mind me asking why?"

He took a drink of his firewhiskey and knew it was much needed with her question. He hated talking about his family circumstances and tried to avoid it at all costs. He was successful most of the time and most of his friends had learnt over the years never to bring things like that up, especially about his father. He had spent enough time without answering that he saw Hermione shift in her seat and open her mouth to most likely tell him to forget she asked. He cut her off though and put his glass down on the table. "You know that my father is in prison," he said as a matter-of-fact and she nodded. "Well, despite that and everything that he did in the past, my mother is the only person in the world to still love him and she pines for him terribly. Especially at Christmas time as it's her favourite time of the year."

"I didn't know…"

"You couldn't have," he shrugged and drank some more whiskey. "As much as I hate Christmas I always make a point to spend most of the day with her before she goes to various houses of her friends. She used to get all…fucked up the first couple of years," he admitted.

She watched him carefully although he didn't meet her eyes at all. She held her wine glass and didn't press him to say any more or less than he was willing to say, and for that, he appreciated her. "Have you spoke about this before, Draco?" She asked after he had not spoken for several minutes.

He downed the last of his firewhiskey and shook his head. "Blaise and Pansy know that she gets upset but I've never told them how badly."

"Is she getting better as the years go on? It's been almost thirteen years now, hasn't it?

"Mm," he hummed. "Thirteen years and she could probably tell you the exact day she had to be taken from his arms so he could be put in those shackles." He stood up and went to the bar, leaving Hermione at the table. She sipped her wine and watched him come back with another glass and sit before her.

"I've learnt a lot about you today, Draco," Hermione said when he came back and he looked her in the eye. "Have you been wanting to tell people these things?"

"What things?"

"Personal things," she said.

"They're not personal. Many people know my father is in prison."

Hermione didn't answer and took a drink of her wine. She'd wanted to add that she figured his father's imprisonment had made an impact on him more than he'd be willing to admit to anyone, but from the way he darted his eyes to the floor or across the bar, she didn't bring anything more up and waited for him to make the first move to speak. She knew where the line was and didn't want to cross it.

"Why do you have to pack tonight?" He asked after a few more minutes of silence.

"I'll be going to my parents tonight and spending the day with them tomorrow," she smiled. "They live in Stratford so I travel by floo to them rather than them making the drive to here."

"That sounds nice."

"It is," Hermione nodded. "Although this year there will be more family there. My cousins and aunts and uncles," she grimaced.

"You don't like them?" He asked.

"I do in moderation," she admitted with a laugh. "Having them all together for Christmas sort of hits every 'family Christmas time' stereotype on the head."

"Lovely," he chuckled even though he had never had anything like that before, he could still only imagine the different things that would happen, warranting a slight dislike for them. "I'm returning to work on Boxing Day, like you; do you want to schedule any meetings?" He asked.

"Yes, I was actually going to talk to you about that," Hermione nodded. "I'm taking New Years Day off—"

"As am I."

"Okay, that works perfectly!" She smiled. "I thought we could get as many meetings as we can in that short time frame of Boxing Day and New Years so we can get all the kinks worked out and start arranging meetings with other people too. I won't be able to do a lot for a few weeks after New Years though because of it being the beginning of a new year and all, I know you'll understand."

He nodded because he understood completely. The new year usually brought in some sort of change to each department which included a lot of staff meetings, updates and mostly bringing in new employees. This took up a lot of time in training and also maintaining current employees good work ethic and helping the people struggling pull their socks up a little and get back on the right track. Along with this, there was usually an influx of people needing help from different departments in the Ministry and he could understand that with Hermione working in the international department, things would get a little hectic.

"We'll get as much done as we can in the week we have," Draco told her and she smiled brightly.

"I can never thank you enough for helping me with this project, really, Draco."

"I told you, I don't need thanks," he said but gave her a small smile in return and drank the rest of his firewhiskey. He noted that she had finished her glass of chardonnay and was running the tip of her finger around the rim of the glass.

She nibbled her bottom lip and then glanced down at the watch on her wrist. "I should get going, it's just past six o'clock." He understood and nodded. "Thanks for accompanying me today. Wait…I did it again, didn't I?" She laughed and shook her head and he realised she meant that she'd thanked him.

"It's fine, Granger," he smiled at her and stood from his chair when she did. "And thank you for allowing me to." He looked down at her and looked her in the eyes and then glanced at her lips when her tongue came out to wet them. "Have a good day tomorrow," he told her, looking her in the eyes again after his fleeting glance down.

"You too," Hermione said and he could hear the sincerity in her tone. "Owl me if you need to, or want to, or anything like that," she offered with an almost-missable blush. "Merry Christmas, Draco."

"Merry Christmas, Hermione," he returned and watched her gather her bags and walk to one of the large fireplaces in the Leaky Cauldron. When she had taken the floo home, he walked over to the bar and ordered two more glasses of firewhiskey for himself and took them back to the table. The mere thought of the festivities the next day was enough to make him stay in the pub for much longer than he should have and he arrived home from taking the floo, at eight o'clock that night. He'd had a little too much to drink and thankfully had a sobering up potion which he took and as always gave him a slight headache but it was better than the headache he would inevitably have gotten with having a hangover. Now with a clearer mind, he brought out the roll of wrapping paper he'd had from the year before and cast a handy spell to wrap the three gifts for him. He wrote on three small tags, 'Pansy', 'Blaise' and 'Mother' respectively, and then stuck them to the presents after they'd been wrapped. He stared down at the presents on the table and then left them there while he prepared himself something for dinner.

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Draco hadn't slept well that night. He kept waking every few hours with a feeling in the pit of his stomach that didn't sit well with him, so when he woke at eight o'clock, he didn't bother trying to fall back asleep, but got up and ready for the day. By twenty to nine, he was ready for the day and picked up his mother's present and used the fireplace to go the manor. When he arrived in the sitting room the first thing he saw was his mother sitting on the sofa with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. He knew he'd had a funny feeling in his stomach for good reason and he rushed to her side, putting her present on the coffee table as he passed. "Mother?" He said when he neared her and knelt on the ground in front of her.

Over the years he'd learnt how to deal with situations like this: calmly. The first situation that had occurred had been during his father's first year in prison, and the day of his mother's birthday found her crying for the majority of the day, working herself into a panic. It was one of the worst things Draco had ever experienced. No matter how much he put on a front of being indifferent to the likes of family and the expression of feelings, he did love his mother, and seeing her so broken down had teared at his insides. He had panicked that day as well. He had no one to ask for advice on how to calm his mother and ended up hugging her until she got her breathing steady and stopped clawing at his chest for him to get away. He hadn't seen her that way when his father was in prison back in his fifth year due to him being at school for the most part, but he figured out years later that his mother hadn't been so distraught because she'd known somehow Lucius would be released sooner rather than later. The years following this term of imprisonment for Lucius had Narcissa getting better over time but still didn't make birthdays, anniversaries or Christmases any easier.

The past few Christmases, Draco had emerged into the manor and found his mother happy with his arrival with a slightly forced smile on her face and she would usher him to the dining room for breakfast and the opening of each other's presents, so from the position she was in this morning, Draco knew she wasn't coping very well. She lifted her head from her hands and her eyes were red and cheeks slightly wet from her tears and Draco's stomach twisted inside his stomach. Seeing his mother cry still made him feel worse than some of the things he'd seen during the war. He put his hands on her knees and looked at her. "I'm sorry, Draco," she apologised and her voice wavered.

"You haven't anything to be sorry for," Draco said softly and reached into his trouser pocket to pull out the handkerchief he always carried around but never used; he'd actually been given it as a present from her on his twentieth birthday. He wiped her cheeks and let her take it and do the rest. He never knew what to say to console her; he couldn't make up false promises like 'he'll be released next year' because the both of them knew that wasn't true. All he could do was be there for her and was glad he'd come when he did.

"I should control myself more. It's been almost fourteen years," Narcissa said and dabbed her nose and then sniffed. "I miss him dearly."

"I know you do," Draco said quietly. She was the only one in the world that missed the man. "Why don't we go to the dining room?" He asked.

Narcissa sniffed and nodded before standing up. Draco did too and watched her with a hint of concern as she wiped under her eyes once more and then clutched the handkerchief in her hand. "Let's go," she said and gave him a small smile. "I can't wait for you to see your present." He went to the coffee table and picked up the small box which contained her present and walked with her out of the sitting room and down the hall to the dining room. "Now, I didn't wrap your present because you would know what it is straight away," she explained to them. "I do hope you like it."

"Of course I'll like it," Draco said and opened the door to the dining room and she walked in first. He wasn't a big fan of receiving presents simply because he didn't think he needed them but his mother always knew what to get him and he hadn't received a gift from her yet that he hadn't used. He walked into the room behind her and his eyes widened when he looked at the long dining table and saw his present sitting atop. He was momentarily speechless as he saw the Swift 11 laying there, the very same broom he'd been looking at the day before when he'd been in the Quidditch shop. "Mother, I already have a broom, you didn't—"

"Hush, Draco. I knew you'd like it," she said and pushed on his back gently so he would move forward. He did just that and walked up to the broom and lifted its lightweight frame in his hands, marvelling at the smooth polished wood and the neatly trimmed twigs at the end that formed a smooth, neat tail. "Well?" She asked him and he put the broom back down gently and turned to his mother who had a smile on her face and clasped her hands together.

"Thank you very much," he told her and gave her a smile. "I was actually looking at it yesterday," he said and turned back and ran his hand over the smooth seat and 'stirrups'. "It's a magnificent broom…"

"You will need to fly it after breakfast," Narcissa said.

"I will, most definitely," he nodded and when he turned to give her his present he was met with her wrapping her arms around his waist and she hugged him. His mother and himself rarely hugged and their usual greeting was him giving her a kiss on the cheek. Hugs were reserved for the odd time and he'd hardly ever received them as a child, only on his departure and return to and from Hogwarts respectively. He couldn't exactly remember the last time he'd hugged her recently and he would be lying if he said he didn't feel a little bit awkward, but he put his arms around her too and hugged her back. Thinking more about it, he realised he'd been hugged more in the last week than he had in the last few years. When Narcissa pulled back from the hug he turned to get his present for her off the table and pretended not to notice her wipe her eyes again because he noticed she'd done it hurriedly as if she was embarrassed. "Here you are," he passed her the wrapped box.

She smiled when she took it. "Very good wrapping," she said and he chuckled because he knew she was knowledgeable on the fact that he used a spell to do so. She unwrapped the present and left the paper on the table and smiled wider when she recognised the jeweller's box. "Oh, Draco, it's beautiful!" She said when she opened the box and revealed the intricately made necklace laying on the black satin cushion. She lifted it from the box and admired the jewels as they sparkled slightly in the morning light and smiled wider before laying it back in its box. "I love it, thank you."

"I knew you would," he gave her a small smile back then took the wrapping paper off the table and the broom and set it to one side on the accent table to the side of the room. "Let's start breakfast, shall we?"

"A very good idea," Narcissa nodded.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter may come sooner rather than later as I have more plans for _after_ Christmas than I do the actual day ;) Hope you all enjoyed, please leave a review and I'm going to start responding to them to! See you next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

Draco steered his broom back down to the ground and his feet left the metal holds when he touched down on the grass just in front of where his mother was standing. He'd spent a good part of half an hour testing out his new broom in the large backyard of Malfoy Manor and his mother had watched from the ground with her winter cloak wrapped firmly around her. Draco had put on his own cloak over the button up shirt and trousers he'd been wearing, and his mother insisted on him wearing gloves too. He was glad she had though as the air had been bitingly cold, especially as he flew around at the speeds which his new broom was capable of. When he landed, his cheeks and nose were pink from the cold and his hair was pushed back from the wind. "That was incredible," he told his mother and couldn't keep the smile off his face. His feet crunched on the frosty grass as he dismounted the broom and held it upright.

"I'm so glad you enjoy your present," Narcissa smiled. "Did it fly well?"

"Magnificently," Draco said and nodded. They both turned to climb up the steps onto the outdoor patio and then inside the double doors to the house. The warmth was welcoming and he shrugged off the heavy cloak and draped it over his arm. "It's so lightweight; it was responsive to the slightest turn and it was the smoothest broom ride I've ever had," he started listing off the broom's attributes. "I can see why the professionals are using it more and more."

Narcissa laughed softly at his enthusiasm for the broom. "If only I had enough courage to get on and try," she joked and Draco laughed too because he knew his mother had never sat on a broom in her life and would never try. They got back to the sitting room and then she turned to him. "Have you got any plans for today?" She asked.

"Blaise and Pansy did invite me over," Draco said. "You can come too?" He suggested, his way of asking her if she needed him to stay.

"No, I wouldn't want to intrude; and I already have plans of visiting various of my friends," Narcissa responded and Draco knew there was a small group of women she was friends with whose husbands were also in Azkaban like Lucius, so them meeting up on Christmas had been a tradition that formed over the years. "I was meant to be meeting up with Nora in around hour; can I excuse myself to get ready?" She asked.

"Of course," he nodded. "I might go now."

Narcissa looked at him for a few seconds before speaking. "Draco, spend time with your friends today. I'm worried about you…"

"There's nothing to be worried about, mother."

"No, Draco, there is," she said seriously and lifted her hands up to brush down his collar while he stared at the wall behind her. "You spend way too much time by yourself—"

"I go to work," he interrupted.

"Yes, where you spend your days locked in your office," Narcissa responded and then lifted her hand up to grasp his chin and make him look at her. "I know it's difficult for you, even if you can't admit that to yourself, but you need to try and spend a little more time with the people who are by your side. You can't spend your days in solitude."

Draco had initially looked at her then darted his eyes away after only a few seconds. He stared down at the carpet and nodded. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that she was right and that he should be spending more time with the people he classified as friends, but it was difficult for him to reason with himself why he should. "I'll go to Blaise and Pansy's," he said after a pause.

Narcissa smiled and then gave him a kiss on the cheek and all he could smell was the familiar scent of her perfume that he'd known all his life. "Enjoy the rest of your Christmas," she said and he knew what was coming next after her pause and he tensed his jaw. "I love you."

Over the years, Draco hadn't ever said those words. Not even to Astoria even though she had loved him and he assured her that he cared deeply for her. He did love his mother though, but it was almost like there was something in his brain stopping him from getting out those three words. "And you," he said instead and stepped backwards. "Enjoy your day too," he told her and then gave her a small smile and went to the fireplace. Just as he dropped the floo powder he looked at her and she gave him a smile and waved, but then he was gone.

—

It was just past noon and Draco was sitting in his living room with a mug of coffee in his hold. He'd gotten home from his mother's almost two hours ago but he didn't want to go to Blaise and Pansy's apartment just yet. It had taken him a lot of willpower to open the jar of coffee granules rather than pouring himself a glass of firewhiskey, but he'd managed to do it. Currently, he was watching his television and it was unfortunate that every channel he turned to had some form of Christmas related movie on, except for a channel that wasn't even in English so he couldn't watch it without getting frustrated about not knowing what was going on. He settled on watching one channel that was playing a movie that didn't have any singing in it (from the last half an hour he'd watched) but for most of the time, he'd not been looking at the screen.

His house was Scrooge's almost-dream. He didn't have a speck of decoration pertaining to the holiday at all; no tree, no lights, no banners. The only thing he had remotely relating to Christmas were the two holiday cards he'd received — one from his mother and one joint card from Pansy and Blaise — which he placed on top of his TV. It was a stark difference to the Manor as his mother had a decorated tree in the sitting room and various other decorations scattered through the large home. He didn't mind though that his home had nothing. He didn't _hate_ the idea of the day, but rather thought it was slightly unnecessary. The logical part of his brain also tried to tell him that a large part of his discomfort with the holiday was due to the lack of people he could share it with. At Hogwarts it had been a jovial time, full of laughter, smiles and fun. It was hard not to get into the spirit from the decorations and the present giving on the actual day. His Christmases had started to go downhill from sixth year, and had reached a plateau by the time he was twenty.

He glanced over to the window and then down to the old leather trunk underneath it; the trunk that had been Hermione's present to him, containing the old Quidditch balls. His lips curled into a small involuntary smile and before he knew it, he'd stood up leaving his coffee on the coffee table, and went to his study to take out a piece of parchment.

 _Granger,_

 _I'm sending you this on the assumption that you've still got your wits about you and ability to function after spending time with your extended family._

 _I'm writing to let you know that I think our meeting should be at ten tomorrow morning. You can come by my office as I have a lot of the documents for the project there._

 _See you then; from one 'Grinch' to another,_

 _D_

He went to his back door and whistled shortly and after a few seconds, his owl appeared from the tree in the backyard and landed on his arm so Draco could take him inside. He tied the note to its leg then sent it on its way and closed the door. A look at the clock made Draco sigh and go to his kitchen table where his other two Christmas gifts for his friends were sitting. He picked them up and went to his fireplace and hoped that the rest of the day would be enjoyable.

—

By ten o'clock that night, Draco, Pansy and Blaise were just a little tipsy… Well, Blaise was a tad more drunk than the other two, but it provided great entertainment. All three of them were in the living room of Blaise and Pansy's very modern apartment with large windows overlooking London's Oxford Street, seated on comfortable white leather sofas. The apartment had been decorated mostly by Pansy who worked in interior design and henceforth practically begged him if she could decorate his own home (his answer was always no much to her chagrin) every time they met up. Blaise's family came from old money and his mother always received a reasonable sum of galleons with every divorce she'd had which she always gave a portion of to Blaise - 'compensation for being absent', Blaise liked to call it. Pansy's family also came from old money, half of which she'd inherited while her mother took the other half to set up a new life in France. The combination of their bank accounts allowed them to afford such an expensive apartment and accommodate Pansy's lavish furniture desires. Draco was currently sunk low into one sofa with his legs stretched out in front of him, bare feet in the white shaggy rug that covered the floor. He couldn't remember taking his socks and shoes off, but Blaise and Pansy were in the same predicament.

Speaking of the two of them, Draco was being rather careful not to glance their way as they sat on the love-seat together. Pansy had her legs draped over her fiancé's and their heads were close together as she whispered things to him. No doubt they were things Draco didn't want to hear. He really didn't care though, they were in their own world and he was in his own, with a glass of strong alcohol to keep him company. Merlin, he'd drank a lot more than he should - granted, all three of them had taken a sobering up potion at around five o'clock when they felt they were getting a little overboard. Draco was mesmerised with the lights outside the apartment and couldn't believe the activity of the city on Christmas night. He'd been standing by the window before and could see groups of people wandering along the pavement and cars and taxis going every which way on the road. He longed to be sitting at a pub window on a busy street right then, so he could watch everyone that passed and resort into his mind and play the 'game' in his mind of constructing stories for everyone that walked past. Stories like, who the person was, what they did for a living, where they were going, what their past was… Solitude suited him and he could handle it simply because his mind was always whirring.

When he'd arrived earlier in the afternoon, it had been just as Pansy was setting the table for lunch. Draco was still stuffed from breakfast but helped her with setting up and Blaise did too. They sat at the table and chatted to make up for the long absence of not spending a good amount of time together, and even Draco was surprised with how much he spoke, smiled and laughed. No matter how much he didn't like to associate with other people, being in the company of his two best friends brought him out of the small cave of his mind he'd placed himself in. They had all exchanged presents, with Draco receiving a very nice cologne from Pansy and, from Blaise, a box seat ticket to the next Falcon's game that he would attend with him. Pansy had loved the earrings Draco bought for her and immediately took out the ones she was wearing to replace them with the new ones. Blaise had joked that he wished he could think of buying such nice things for her. He had been anticipating the arithmancy book, as it was tradition, and thanked Draco for it and added it to his bookcase.

Draco eventually tucked into eating lunch too, and by the end, all three of them were stuffed with good turkey, vegetables and champagne, adorning paper crowns on their heads and laughing at the stupid jokes that had come out of the bonbons. Carrying on through the afternoon, Blaise had retreated to his piano (possessing the skill to play it which Draco had always envied), and played Christmas carols that Pansy insisted he learn. She was a big fan of Christmas too, she had discovered after the war, and always had a magnificent time preparing for it and enjoying the day. She sang along to the carols ( _very_ out of tune) thanks to her already confident persona with a little help from the champagne she'd consumed. Draco sat on the sofa and watched his friends with a stupid smile on his face and would laugh any time Pansy hit a note in a particularly awful way. He was very glad he'd come. After the piano fiasco, all three of them played a variety of card games and had taken the sobering up potion at this time but Blaise had also brought out his strong whiskey. Pansy opted out of that for more champagne but Draco and Blaise were happy with the strong stuff. The card games lasted for much longer than expected, and here they were then, all in the living room.

When Draco heard the sound of Blaise and Pansy kissing, he grimaced and sat up. "Right," he announced, breaking his silence and the two of them looked at him. "I best be off, I have to work tomorrow."

"Thank you for coming," Pansy gave him a smile.

"Don't be a stranger either. Come over whenever," Blaise slurred and rest his head back against the couch.

Draco chuckled but didn't say anything in response. "Goodbye," he farewelled them and used their fireplace to floo back to his own home. Stepping into it was a harsh reminder of the lack of Christmas spirit he had, but that thought was soon replaced with the need to undress and get into bed, which he did very quickly and fell asleep what felt like instantly.

—

When Draco went to his kitchen for breakfast the next morning, he spotted his owl out on the windowsill. He opened the window to let him in and took the note from his leg and got him a treat in the meantime. The note was from Hermione confirming that ten o'clock would be a good time for their meeting, and he slipped the note into his back pocket and busied himself with making breakfast. Forty minutes later, he was in his office with a stack of papers he had to review, and after that, a lot of floo and phone calls to be made to check with clients on the cases he was assisting in. He hadn't finished by ten and knew that after his meeting with Hermione, he'd have to make more calls which would most likely take him the rest of his day to do.

It didn't surprise him that she was right on time for their meeting and he used his wand to open the door for her when she knocked. She came in with a smile and two coffees in her hand and placed one in front of him before she sat at the chair across from him on the other side of his desk. "Morning," she greeted.

"Good morning," he said and pushed his chair around to get out the files he'd gathered on their project from the cabinet he had behind his desk. "How did your day turn out yesterday?" He asked her when he set the folder down in front of himself on the desk.

"Surprisingly okay," Hermione responded and took a sip of her coffee. "My, shall we say least favourite, cousin spent the day with her husband and his family. I was surprised how nice it was without her there."

"Glad to hear," Draco said and opened up the folder and gave her a stack of papers.

"Did you go to your friends?" She asked.

"I did actually," he nodded. "It was good, even though I had to leave early otherwise I would be even more hungover than I am right now," he smirked.

"Tut-tut," Hermione joked with a smile. "That's good though, that you went."

He didn't like the serious tone her voice took at her last statement and he glanced up at her but quickly looked away. "Right, well if you look at the third document there, you'll see the outlines for applying to have a meeting with both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons…"

—

Two and a half hours later, Draco and Hermione both came to a mutual agreement to take a break from the project, and concluded the meeting for that day. The time had been well spent with hardly any breaks of talking, mainly suggestions. Draco brought out some books he'd had on international education and how Wizarding law adapted into that ("I don't know who in their right mind would want to sit down and write a book about this," he'd said sarcastically which made her laugh), and the two of them read over the sections that would help with designing an exchange program that would adhere to all regulations of the countries and schools that would be involved in the exchange program.

Hermione wrote several pages of notes with reference to parts of the books Draco brought out. He even booked an appointment to visit the storage room of the law department that contained transcripts of all cases heard in England by the Ministry, but would help direct them to past test cases of the same topic from both England and other countries. He had a list of many things that they would have to do, both individually and together, to set them up for a few long weeks after the New Years of working. Their goal was to get the exchange program implemented by September - what may seem like a reasonable deadline to some, but with Draco's workload and Hermione's duties as department head, they would be stretched for time.

At that moment, Draco was leaning back in his chair and looking at Hermione doing the same thing across from him on the chair in front of his desk. She was currently telling him about her day previous. "…Then I visited the Burrow just after they had all finished eating dinner. Merlin, I still wonder how Mrs Weasley does it every year with everyone that comes?"

"That many people?" Draco asked.

"Well, there's Mrs and Mr Weasley's kids that go, and every single one of them has a partner. Ginny, Bill and Percy all have kids of their own, so there was five children around, and then there was the _extended_ family." She sighed and shook her head. "I really could only stay for a couple of hours before I went back home. I should be used to it after all these years, but it gets a bit…" She trailed off.

"Overwhelming?" He offered.

"Yeah," she nodded. "That's the perfect word to use."

"It seems you got a lot done yesterday, then."

"I went to the same amount of places that you did," Hermione laughed softly. "I'd hardly call it 'getting a lot done'. How did it go at Blaise and Pansy's?" She asked.

"Better than I thought it would," he said honestly, not afraid to tell her how it really was. He realised that even though their relationship was more of a work one, they were still able to talk freely to each other, something he never thought would happen. When he'd agreed to work with her, he didn't expect such a friendship (yes, he begrudgingly called her a friend now) to spawn from what they were doing, and he could bet that she felt the same. "We had lunch together then spent the rest of the night in the company of cards, champagne and whiskey," he snorted.

"Sounds like a good night," Hermione said and gave him a smile. "Did you get any presents?"

"Cologne and box tickets to the next Falcon's match," he told her and saw her vacant look. "Quidditch," he smirked.

"Ah, right," she laughed. "I can only remember the Canons and Harpies, if I'm honest."

"I'll have to enlighten you to the world of Quidditch then," he joked.

"We could spend time together in much more enjoying ways than that, Malfoy," she rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure we could," he chuckled and quickly shut out the part of his mind that was trying to get him to think of _very_ inappropriate ways of spending enjoyable time together.

"What are you doing on New Year's Eve?" Hermione asked him after a few minutes of quiet between them, and he was taken aback by her question.

"Nothing," he said. "I haven't seen midnight of New Year's Eve for about seven years," he shrugged.

"I must do something about that then," she smiled and sat up in her chair. "Do you want to come with me to the Burrow?" She asked. "George puts on a great fireworks display and there's always great food courtesy of Mrs Weasley."

Draco looked down at the desk in front of him. "Won't your friends assume…?" He trailed off.

"No," she shook her head and he missed the blush on her cheeks. "They welcome all visitors, it wouldn't be a problem."

He picked off a piece of lint from his trousers and thought. He didn't have anything against the Weasley's anymore. Long gone were his views of them being nothing more than poor blood traitors, and even though he hadn't had a lot of conversation with them individually (or together for that matter), he knew that if he did go, he'd be able to talk to Hermione and Potter at least.

"You don't need to give an answer straight away," Hermione said and when he looked up, he saw the slight flush on her cheeks. It was almost as if she was asking him out, but he wasn't silly enough to assume that she was. They were friends and she was just trying to make him get out and involve himself on yet another holiday he couldn't care less about.

"I'll let you know tomorrow," Draco said eventually. "I'll see if my mother wants company or not first," he lied, knowing that his mother was going to be at a New Year's Ball hosted by one of her friends.

"Speaking of tomorrow," Hermione said, "When would you like to meet?"

"I can fit it in at any time," he told her because he'd only be doing his normal work as he had been doing today. "Are you free the same time as today?"

"I should be," she nodded and then stood up from the chair and rolled her shoulders back after being sat in the same position for so long. "I will see you then," she said and gathered up the things she had brought to the meeting and gave him a smile.

"Don't look forward to it too much," he smirked and she smiled and shook her head at him. She turned and walked to his office door and his eyes dropped down to the figure hugging pencil skirt she was wearing but his eyes quickly averted back up to her face when she stopped and turned. If she knew that he had been staring at her arse, she didn't show it.

"Bye, Malfoy."

"See you, Granger."

* * *

 **A/N: A shorter chapter, I know, but I felt like it has been too long since I last updated. This has been just as much as a filler as the previous chapter, hope none of you are pissed at me for the smaller Christmas scenes, but let me tell you, New Years will be much more exciting ;) Hope you enjoyed, please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Longest chapter of the fic so far! Enjoy!**

* * *

The next day, Hermione had joined Draco in his office at their agreed time in his office to discuss their project. Draco brought up a lot of points that he'd thought of the day before, as did Hermione. While his points were more to do with the method of getting the project to come to fruition, her ideas were to improve the project in itself and even brought up the suggestion of the exchange schools offering different language classes for students interested in exchanging, or on exchange ("Let's do it one step at a time, Granger." He had told her). They worked tirelessly for two hours straight, like they had the day before, but Hermione looked up at him just past twelve o'clock. "Do you think we could keep going?" She asked.

She was currently working on a list of people that would be extremely influential in getting her idea proposed to the schools involved whilst Draco was finding solutions to some of the legal matters they may encounter. He lifted his head when she spoke and then nodded. "I need coffee though. And food," he said and sat up and his back cracked uncomfortably.

"Shall we have lunch?" Hermione suggested.

He nodded again. "I can't do anything without food in my stomach right now," he chuckled and stood up. "Will we go to the Atrium?"

"Why don't we go to a cafe?" Hermione asked hesitantly when she stood up and picked up her coat from the back of the chair she had been sitting on. "It will be nice to get out for a bit after what we've been doing."

"Good idea," Draco agreed. He picked up his coat too and put it on and headed out of his office with her. Outside of the confines of the warm Ministry, the weather was harsh and Winter was in full force. He was glad he wore his coat and he pushed his hands deep inside his pockets to try and keep the biting cold air from hitting any more skin than his face. Within a few minutes of walking, his cheeks and nose were freezing, and Hermione didn't look like she was enjoying the cold any better. She did wear a scarf however and had her coat buttoned all the way to the top. "Care to eat outside?" He joked with her as they walked.

"You read my mind," she rolled her eyes. "I'd really like to develop frostbite now that I think about it."

He chuckled at that, and then asked, "Want to eat here?"

The cafe was a small one, and while there were tables out the front, no one sat on them (for good reason) while indoors looked warm and inviting and there weren't many people eating inside, which Draco always counted as a bonus. "It looks lovely," Hermione answered and he took that as a confirmation that this would be where they ate. He opened the door for her and quickly followed her into the warmth and took his hands out of his pockets to thaw them. At the front counter, they both ordered a bowl of soup each, him going for tomato while she chose pumpkin, and a pot of tea to share. Hermione chose to sit near the window of the cafe and he took his seat across from her after taking off his coat and putting it on the back of his chair.

Draco rest his hands on the table and pushed the salt shaker around while he looked out of the window. There wasn't many people walking around, most likely due to the cold and work obligations. He suddenly remembered about the New Year's Eve party he'd been invited to by Hermione. "I'll join you on New Years," he told her and brought his attention from looking out the window, to her.

She smiled at that. "I'm glad," she said. "I can see why you'd be hesitant, especially with everyone's history and what I said about my hectic visit to the Burrow on Christmas," she laughed.

He smiled too. "It hasn't got anything to do with the history, Granger, just to let you know," he told her. "Everything is reconciled."

"Good," she said. "I told Ron yesterday that you would most likely be coming."

"And?"

"He said it will be fine," Hermione said. "Everyone else is bringing someone, so it's going to be a full house anyway."

"Do you normally bring people?" He asked curiously and saw her nod.

"There has been some years where I've brought someone along," she said. He could guess that it had been boyfriends that she had invited along even though he didn't know of anyone she'd dated apart from Weasley. Then again, how in Merlin's name _was_ he supposed to know? He and Hermione had talked more in the last few weeks than they had in the last few years. "How come you don't do anything to bring in the new year?" She asked.

He shrugged and looked over to the waitress who delivered their pot of tea and cups to them and then left. "It's just another night for me," he said. "I don't see any need to celebrate it."

"Are there any holidays that you actually _do_ enjoy?" Hermione asked sarcastically and poured herself some tea.

"Maybe my birthday," he chuckled.

Hermione laughed. "Birthdays are quite good," she agreed. "When is your birthday?"

"June fifth," he answered. "Better start planning my present now if you want to top the Quidditch trunk," he joked and smirked.

"Who says we'll be friends then?" She asked and he could hear the joking in her voice and see it from the playful look on her face.

"Are you saying after the project you'll disintegrate our friendship? How cruel," he continued to smirk.

"Maybe I am," Hermione said and tried to keep serious but the large smile that adorned her face gave her away.

His own smirk transformed into a smile. "Who says you'll get over me that quickly, hm?"

Hermione laughed softly and looked down at her hands on the table, then back up to him. "That's a good question…" She said and if he hadn't been paying more attention, he wouldn't have realised the slight, hardly noticeable blush on her cheeks and how her smile turned shy.

—

The next two days passed quickly. Draco was overcome with a flood of pre-New Year case applications which he had to review before agreeing to help. He had to arrange several meetings a day with his new clients, meaning his other work was pushed aside, and piled up. He had so much work to get through, that staying until five in the evening wasn't enough, and he became one of the few unlucky Ministry workers that would leave at seven, sometimes eight o'clock at night. Within those two days, he had also had meetings with Hermione although they only lasted around an hour long due to the heavy workload for the both of them.

The day before New Year's Eve, they arranged to have a meeting out of the Ministry and at the cafe they'd been in two days previous. Draco arrived first and ordered a pot of tea for the both of them and found a seat. Thankfully, the cafe wasn't busy which would allow them uninterrupted time to go over the project. He hadn't brought anything along with him as they had decided to only do more discussion rather than physical planning and organising like they normally did.

As to be expected, Hermione arrived at the cafe just on time and took a few seconds to look around the room and find Draco. When she did, she gave him a small smile and headed over to sit with him. "Fancy seeing you here," she said after she'd taken off her coat and sat across from him.

"Funny isn't it? Almost like we planned it," Draco responded with a soft laugh.

"How have you been?" She asked and saw the pot of tea in the middle of the table, so poured herself some.

"Busy," he said. "Everyone's decided that they need a solicitor and are giving very tight deadlines."

"We didn't have to have this meeting," Hermione said. "I understand."

"Don't be silly, Granger," Draco brushed off. "How are you?" He asked her.

"I'm well," she smiled. "I'm quite looking forward to tomorrow."

"Because you get to spend the day with me, is that right?" He joked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I really enjoy New Year," she said.

Draco couldn't see the fascination with the 'holiday', if one could call it that. To him, it just seemed like a night where it seemed very acceptable to get absolutely sloshed and party through the night. While he did enjoy drinking, the party aspect of the night didn't intrigue him. "Why do you enjoy it so much?" He asked her.

"I'm one of those people that takes the New Year to be a clean slate," Hermione explained and then took a sip of tea. "I reflect a lot," she laughed, "I know it sounds stupid."

"It doesn't," he assured her and gave her a small smile when she smiled at him.

"I try and figure out what I want from the year to come, and go with it."

"You decide with your head," Draco said.

"I guess," she nodded. "My head, my heart and my gut, really."

Draco nodded in understanding. "So it's more than just rash decisions with what you do."

"Exactly," she said and then laughed, "Although I have broken up with two people in the past on New Year's and one told me it was too big of a rash decision."

He laughed too, louder than he expected. "Merlin, Granger," he teased. "Bringing in the new year with the breaking of hearts. Harsh."

"What can I say?" She laughed and shrugged her shoulder flippantly and made him laugh once more.

—

After they had a delicious lunch at the cafe, Draco and Hermione decided to head back to the Ministry. "Malfoy, did you realise we didn't even talk once about the project?" Hermione asked as they turned onto the street the Ministry was situated on.

Her statement surprised Draco because it was entirely true. From the moment Hermione had sat down with him to the moment they left the cafe, they had talked to each other — apart from the occasional break when their lunch came. Throughout their talking, they hadn't spoken once about the program that their meeting was designed for. Their conversation hadn't gone any specific way, but they spoke about seemingly unattached topics and shared many laughs. Thinking back on it, and even in the moment, Draco had enjoyed the time tremendously. "Aren't we terrible workers?" He chuckled.

"It was a well deserved sit down for the both of us," Hermione smiled and then opened the door to the Ministry's entrance. It was unseen to the Muggle eye and was only a door that opened up to a large staircase that led people directly into the atrium.

"What do I have to bring tomorrow?" Draco asked as they descended the stairs.

"Hm… Maybe just some wine?"

"And what time do I need to be there?" He asked.

"I'll go at six. Come to think of it, have you ever been to the Burrow?" She asked and he shook his head. "Would you like to floo to my house at six and we'll arrive together? It might be easier."

His first thought from her suggestion was concern over what her friends would think of the both of them arriving together. He didn't want anyone thinking that he and Hermione were seeing each other when that wasn't the case. "Are you sure?" He asked her.

Hermione seemed to catch onto what he was implying. "It doesn't bother me," she said and he knew she was being honest. "It doesn't bother you, does it?" She asked him.

He paused for a second before shaking his head. They both stopped at the bottom of the steps and moved to the side. "We know what…we have," he tried to phrase it correctly.

"You're right," Hermione agreed. "So, my place, six o'clock?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"See you then, Malfoy," she smiled and walked away.

"Bye, Granger," Draco said and watched her walk off and tried to wrap his head around what the hell had just clicked for him in his mind.

—

Draco was fond of Hermione Granger. After their meeting-that-was-really-lunch, Draco had been consumed of thoughts on what her friends would think when the both of them turned up to a New Year's Eve party. He knew that everyone's first assumption would be that they were a couple and initially, he wasn't okay with that. It wasn't due to the fact that she was Muggleborn, or the fact that for his teenage years, he had hated her; it was due to the fact that he didn't want to care for someone. Call it selfish of him, but he had seen the struggle his mother went through for being in love with Lucius, he had seen the heartbreak that Pansy had when her and Blaise had taken a break two years ago and she'd thought she lost Blaise forever. Even when Draco and Astoria had broken up it had taken him a longer time than he'd ever thought, or wanted, to recover and try and get back to a normal, single lifestyle. He'd missed Astoria, despite their differences and the fact that their relationship could hardly be called that at the end. When she had left his arms that final night and he knew it was over, his heart had ached, and he didn't think he was ready to experience that again.

He knew that Hermione was a woman he could be in a relationship with. That train of thought led Draco to realise that he didn't care what her friends would think if they saw them together. He wasn't scared anymore of having it be assumed that they were dating, because he didn't mind if that was the truth. The both of them had spent a substantial amount of time together in the past three weeks that he couldn't remember enjoying a day where she _hadn't_ been involved. She had inadvertently taught him how to enjoy himself, how to relax and actually smile and mean it. Without even knowing it, Draco had found himself to be drawn to her in ways he'd never thought he wanted to. Although his only feelings to her at the start were annoyance over her need to add three sugars to a perfectly good coffee, and then invite herself to have coffee breaks with him, he had grown to realise his feelings of not wanting to see her, had changed to wanting to see her. He liked spending time with her, which was unusual as he didn't like spending time with anyone. He liked that he could make her smile when he believed that his life for the most part was filled with him disappointing the people around him. He was glad she chose him to help her with her exchange program idea and he knew that if anyone else had asked him, he would have scoffed and shut his office door on them.

It was official. After eight years, he was allowing himself to realise that he could have feelings for someone else. He realised that he did want to act on it, but in this circumstance, he would continue doing what he was doing with Hermione. He had, what the younger generation would call, a crush. On Hermione Granger. A crush that resulted in him being dressed in a smart button shirt and trousers holding a bottle of champagne, ready to attend a party. He knew he looked presentable, and took some floo powder in his hand, stepped into his fireplace, and arrived in Hermione's apartment shortly after. He was in her living room by himself then until he spotted her cat curled up on the sofa. He couldn't remember its name, only that it had something to do with a star sign. "Hello?" He called out after standing there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"I'll just be one minute!" Hermione called out from somewhere down the hallway. Draco stood quietly by the fireplace with the chilled bottle of champagne in his hand, and read the label in the meantime. He heard her come down the hall and he looked up when she entered the living room. Dressed in ankle boots, jeans, and a nice looking white knitted jumper, her hair was coiffed into submission, still with some of its frizziness, but she had managed to subdue it into wavy curls. Maybe it was only because of his revelation a few hours ago, or just the fact that it was true, but he found that she looked quite good, even in such 'simple' attire. "Hi," she finally greeted him with a smile and she seemed slightly breathless, probably from getting ready.

"Hello," Draco greeted her and gave her a small smile too. They both stood in silence for some very tense seconds until he finally spoke. "You scrub up well, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes and walked further into the room. "Can say the same for you," she said and he couldn't tell whether her cheeks looked slightly red from a blush or makeup. "You brought champagne?"

"Good observation," he chuckled and showed her. "It's not New Year's without champagne, unless traditions have changed that I don't know about," he joked.

Hermione laughed softly. "Are you okay with side-along?" She asked. He wasn't, but he nodded anyway, and she put her hand on his arm and gave him a few seconds before she apparated. Almost instantaneously, they arrived at the bottom of the front garden, and for the first time in his life, he saw the home that he'd heard Weasley and Potter talk about incessantly during school. His imagined visions of the place was nothing like what it actually turned out to be and he found himself in slight awe — more so in wonder how the building was still standing. "Ready?" Hermione asked and broke him from his thoughts.

"Yeah," he said and followed her through the rusty old gate and up the path to the house. He wasn't nervous for what was to come because he knew if he ended up being secluded by himself, he would at least have some alcohol to numb his senses. "So everyone knows I'm coming?" He asked as they neared the door.

"I'm sure Ron told everyone," Hermione said. Just before they got to the front door, she stopped which made him stop as well. "You're friendly with Harry, right?"

"You could say that," he nodded.

"He'll be in here," Hermione said. "I know it might have taken a lot of thought from you to come, I get that. You hardly know anyone in there, which makes me all the more thankful that you did come. I just hope you do have fun tonight. That's the whole reason we're here."

Draco was rather grateful for what she said but didn't try to show it. "As long as I don't need to do any dancing, all will be fine," he smirked.

She laughed and then walked the last few steps to the door and only had to knock twice before it was opened. Draco hardly had time to think before he saw Hermione being taken into a hug by a tall redhead who greeted her with a loud, "Hermione! Was beginning to think you'd gone missing." Only when they had extracted from the hug, did Draco realise that it was George Weasley.

"Hi, George," Hermione laughed. She then turned to Draco and back at the Weasley brother. "George, this is Draco, I'm sure you remember each other."

"Nice to see you," Draco said for common courtesy. He'd never had a problem with the older Weasley twins, and had secretly thought their stunts in their last year of school had been quite genius.

"I won't give you the same greeting as Hermione, mate," George laughed and Draco chuckled too. "Unless you want that is?" He joked.

"No, I'm fine," Draco said.

"Come in, come in," George said and stood aside so Hermione and Draco could come through the door. Draco could hear that the wireless was playing music what seemed to be in another room as the sound was quite muffled. Before they got to that room though, they passed the kitchen where Arthur and Molly Weasley were.

The latter immediately stood up and gathered Hermione into a hug and the two had their greeting. Draco hadn't spoken to Arthur Weasley in a very long time, so thought he should break the ice (albeit, very thin ice) between them. "Mister Weasley," he greeted and extended his hand for a handshake.

Arthur seemed taken aback at first but then gave Draco a genuinely warm smile. "It's nice to have you in our home, Mister Malfoy."

"Please just call me Draco," Draco said and then handed Arthur the bottle of champagne, since technically, he and his wife were the hosts.

"Thank you," Arthur said. "I'm sure it won't go to waste, will it?" He said with a hearty chuckle and Draco laughed softly and put his hands in his pockets. It was then that he felt suddenly out of his depth and turned around to look at Hermione but she was engrossed in her conversation with Mrs Weasley, rather, Molly was doing more of the talking while Hermione listened. Draco couldn't believe where he was or why he was doing this and he hoped to Merlin that it would turn out to be a night he would remember fondly. Arthur and himself fell into comfortable silence and Draco's eyes darted around the room, looking at every picture hanging up, every piece of furniture and every other insignificant detail.

He was so enraptured in his looking around, that he didn't see Hermione come to his side. "Coming to see everyone else?" She asked. He nodded and followed her and the music he could hear sounded clearer. Around the corner was a larger living room where everyone was gathered and Draco gave up on trying to count how many people there was. Quite a few of them looked up when Draco and Hermione rounded the corner and he made eye contact with anyone who did, and then watched Hermione walk quickly to Ginny who was sitting on a sofa with a tiny little baby in her arms. Hermione's godson, he realised, and watched her pick up the baby with ease and smile down at him.

"Malfoy!" His name was called and he looked away from Hermione to Harry who was standing next to her. "Nice to see you came," he said and Draco walked over and shook his hand.

"Thank this one," Draco joked and nodded his head at Hermione. She briefly looked up from the baby and rolled her eyes, then was back to admiring her godson and letting him suck on the tip of her finger. "So this is the infamous godson of yours," Draco commented and stood a bit closer and looked down at the baby. Albus' eyes were open and the same colour of his father's but apart from that, Draco couldn't see any similarities between the infant and his parents.

"Isn't he precious?" Hermione asked, not taking her eyes off the child. "Want to hold him?"

"No," he answered easily. Draco couldn't see the appeal of baby's. They were too high maintenance and anyone who held them was immediately in charge of their _life_ and he'd had enough of having people's life in his hands — although literally this time. Aside from that, he could guess that Ginny most likely didn't want him to hold her child, as he was practically a stranger to her, and everything she did know about him was mostly bad news, so he couldn't blame the redhead in the slightest.

Hermione didn't seem bothered with his denial as it meant she could still hold her godson. She pressed her lips to the baby's forehead and the little one gurgled softly and batted his mitten covered hands out and Hermione smiled and pretended to nibble on Albus's fingers. "Did you have a nice Christmas, Draco?" Ginny asked Draco and he looked over at her.

"Can't complain," he answered and after brief eye contact he looked around. "Quite a full house," he commented.

"It is," she nodded.

"All the kids are upstairs," Harry added. "Trust me, be happy to be down in this commotion rather than up there," he laughed and Draco snorted softly and agreed wholeheartedly. "Fancy a drink?"

"Yeah, that'd be good," Draco said and followed the other wizard over to a drink cabinet against the wall.

"Malfoy. Hermione said you were coming," Ron said as he was near the cabinet with a woman standing next to him, a woman Draco felt like he remembered but couldn't place a name to her face.

"She's not a liar," Draco responded and took the glass of firewhiskey that Harry offered him. "Been a while."

"It has," Ron said. "Uh, well this is Hannah," he introduced Draco to the woman by his side.

The first name was all the cue that Draco needed. "Abbott?" He asked to confirm and when she nodded he gave her a slight smile which would be missed in a blink. "Nice to see you both," he said. It was an easy white-lie to tell everyone that he was meeting that night and one that everyone seemed to fall for. It wasn't that he thought it was horrible that he was around everyone, he just wasn't as comfortable as he would be if he were in, say, a gathering of his old Slytherin classmates. Even then he wouldn't be completely comfortable to join in conversations on his own, but then again, that was only his nature.

"Apologies for my ignorance, but are you and Hermione…" Hannah asked and trailed off her question, giving him the option to answer or keep quiet.

"Just workmates," Draco said quickly. He hoped he wouldn't have to be saying that to everyone he would talk to, but maybe that was a good excuse to stick to himself for the night. He looked around the room and it did seem like there were a few more people than just the Weasley's and their significant others. If he was introduced to them all he'd likely forget their names in an instant, but one or two of them looked familiar to him and he figured they were probably old classmates.

"You're helping Hermione with her exchange student proposal, right?" Harry asked and then took a drink of the firewhiskey he'd poured himself.

"Yes," Draco nodded. "We've been working on it quite diligently, it's coming together quite well.

"She's always been harping on about that exchange program," Ron said. "I always heard it from her at least once every time we met up."

"She's passionate about it," Draco shrugged. He looked away from the small group he was in and scanned the rest of the room while Ron, Harry and Hannah started to chat amongst themselves. Draco's eyes fell on Hermione and she was still holding baby Albus in her arms, rocking slightly side to side as she spoke to Ginny. Judging by the looks on their faces, Ginny with a sly smile and Hermione looking flustered, Draco was intrigued to know what they were talking about. Ginny said something else to Hermione and then nodded her head in Draco's direction, and as he took a sip of his firewhiskey, he didn't look away when Hermione turned slightly and the both of them made eye contact. In a bold move, he quickly winked at her with a smirk and then took a sip of his drink and Hermione shook her head slightly with a smile and turned back to Ginny who had a smirk on her face that would even give his own smirk a run for its money.

—

"Here you go," Draco said to Hermione as he walked to her side and gave her a flute of champagne he'd just poured for her.

"Thanks," she smiled and took a sip. The night had progressed and Hermione had come to realise that he wasn't interacting as much as she would have hoped, so she'd hung around him and the two chatted easily as the hours passed by. There was an hour to go until the New Year was upon them and upstairs all the children were tucked up into beds or cribs, while downstairs, the wireless' volume had been turned up and everyone was getting a bit more into their drinks. Hermione and Draco had both progressed onto drinking the bottle of champagne he'd brought along, so much so that the glasses he'd just poured for them were the last remaining liquid in the bottle and not one other person but them had touched it.

He wasn't drunk yet, but he was definitely tipsy. She was too by the sheen in her eyes and the amount she would giggle and laugh over stupid things. Draco did too, but mainly because of her laughter did he smile and laugh himself. They were standing at the wall of the living room, leaning back against it. Everyone else was in their own groups around the living room, talking and laughing loudly, all with drinks in their hands (except Ginny who was still breastfeeding). "I don't think I've ever had such a good time at a New Year's party," Draco told her.

"See! You _are_ capable of feeling happy, I never would have guessed," she teased with a grin and then drank some more of her champagne and swayed slightly side to side in time with the music playing.

"Shut it," he snorted and drank more of his champagne too. "You'll just have to invite me along next year too."

"As if. I'm dumping our friendship after the project is done, remember?" She joked and made him laugh. She looked away to everyone else who was around and while her eyes were off him, Draco looked at her and didn't even realise he was still smiling. Though he had seen her having fun at the Ministry Ball, he'd never seen her in the manner she was now, before. Even when she was tipsy and messed up a few of her words, she still held intelligent conversations with him when he was more sober, and she still had the same grace about her as always. He'd never thought he'd be thinking about her grace.

The night passed on and the both of them integrated into talking with everyone else and struck up a conversation with Ginny, Harry, George and Angelina — the latter was, who Draco found out, George's wife. Before anyone knew it, Ron called out that there was three minutes until midnight and only then did Draco remember the dreaded tradition that came with the tolling of the New Year's bell. A New Year's kiss. He knew he wouldn't be kissing Hermione when the clock struck, for many reasons. Even though he had admitted to himself finally that he indeed did have feelings for her, he didn't have the courage to act upon them in a room crowded of people. As the countdown began, starting at ten, all the couples moved to their significant others. Harry and Ginny held hands and counted down aloud and made Draco roll his eyes at how sappy it looked. George and Angelina hadn't waited for midnight to begin kissing, and Ron and Hannah were standing by themselves too. The other couples there were together also, leaving Draco and Hermione standing by each other — the only singles in the room. "…One! Happy New Year!" The chorus sounded out and even Draco joined in on saying it. Everyone around the room locked lips (some more passionately than others) and Draco looked over at Hermione who was smiling at everyone else.

"Cheers, Hermione," Draco said to her and tipped his champagne flute towards her.

Hermione turned her head and he noticed her smile changed to something he couldn't quite place an emotion on. "Cheers, Draco," she returned and the both of them clinked their glasses together then took a drink.

He was beginning to be uncomfortable in the room full of couples that were all enjoying the chiming of the bells in ways Hermione and he couldn't, so he leaned over to her. "Want to go somewhere else?" He asked.

"Sure," she nodded and put her hand on his forearm to lead him out of the living room. He thought she would take him to the kitchen but instead, she opened up a door that led outside.

"Aren't you going to be bloody freezing?" Draco asked as he followed her outside and closed the door. The silence was almost deafening compared to indoors and the outdoor world was peaceful and quiet, the sky clear, and oblivious to any celebrations going on within houses around the country.

"I'm not cold," Hermione said and left her glass on the outdoor table as she passed and he did the same thing. He stood for a second and watched her slightly jog down the garden and then stood with her arms outstretched, looking up at the sky. He smiled like a fool and followed her at a walk and came to stand besides her. "I love the nighttime," she said after the two of them stood in silence for several minutes.

"Me too," he said. "It's beyond peaceful." He looked up at the sky as she did then turned his eyes to her as she walked further down the garden and out the fence line and started walking up the slight hill. He rolled his eyes and followed her and thanked Merlin it wasn't snowing otherwise he wouldn't have dared to set a foot outside the back door. "What are you doing?" He laughed when he watched her stop and sit down on the ground then lay back.

"I'm looking at the stars, Draco," Hermione responded and looked at him when he stood beside her. "Get down here and enjoy yourself," she laughed and hit her hand on his shin.

"I'm not lying on the ground."

"Don't have a tantrum. Come lie with me."

He sighed and then dropped down onto the ground and rolled onto his back next to her. She shifted over so they were closer and he was very aware of her arm pressed against his — not in a casual way, but fully pressed against him. He stared up at the sky and was overcome with it. He'd never been in an area wide and open enough to fully see the beauty of the clearness and sheer size of it all and he could see the stars against their inky backdrop. "It's incredible," he said. He felt like the cold air and his thought process had sobered him up slightly though he could still feel the warm effect that the alcohol had given him.

"It is," Hermione agreed and he turned his head and his cheek pressed against the cold grass and he found her staring right at him.

Normally, when he held eye contact with people, he didn't like it to last long. His habit of looking away and averting his eyes had become stronger over the years; but right now, he couldn't even bring himself to blink. He'd never truly even noticed the colour of her eyes before and now he could see. Her eyes weren't a murky brown, but just a nice brown and had a slight shine in them which he assumed was from the alcohol they'd been drinking. He couldn't look anywhere else and after a minute or so, he slowly rolled onto his side towards her. They were closer now and her breathing had slightly sped up, but nothing noticeable to him. Draco saw her tongue slightly dart out, barely noticeable, and then she slightly bit her bottom lip in nervousness. In the faint light, he saw the slight blush to her cheeks and without thinking, he moved his hand out and brushed the back of his index finger against it. "How sober are you?" He asked, breaking the silence and stillness of the night with his quiet question.

Her answer came back in almost a whisper. "Sober enough to know that I want what's going to happen."

Maybe she had been presumptuous but neither of them cared. Especially Draco because he'd been thinking along exactly the same lines. Another minute passed before he finally put his thoughts into action. He knew that he wanted this and from what she had said, she wanted it too. His finger was still against her cheek and he slowly rest his other fingers down and cupped her cheek with his palm. He was much closer too her because of being on his side and only had to lean a small way and only then could he feel her breath against his chin. They still hadn't broken eye contact and he knew this was it. It seemed that the both of them acted upon their thoughts at the same time as their lips pressed together before he could register. He closed his eyes then when he saw hers immediately shut and he felt something inside him he couldn't even place. He couldn't even count the seconds of how long their lips had been together before he pulled back slightly and slid his hand from her cheek to the back of her head and pulled her in again. They kissed slowly and every second was bliss. Not once had he experienced a first kiss with anyone in this way.

Her lips were soft and he pulled her bottom lip between his before they parted again and let out a breath. His eyes opened to find hers open too and they looked at each other with the realisation of what just occurred. Time was lost to them both, and eventually, her lips parted to say, "Happy New Year, Draco."

"Happy New Year, Hermione," he returned.

* * *

 **A/N: I know it took me so long to update but I have good reasoning! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and thought about splitting it into two but decided it worked better as one. Hope you enjoyed, please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Bit dialogue heavy at the start. Also, this chapter won't be as long as the previous one. Enjoy!**

* * *

Draco and Hermione both stayed out on the grassy hill after their initial kiss. Following their New Year wishes to each other, Draco had dropped down onto his back again and the two resumed looking at the sky. The silence between them both was comfortable and Draco didn't feel like he had done anything bad. Sure, the kiss had been sudden and unexpected, but maybe that's what he needed in life — something unexpected to knock him breathless and jolt him back into reality. He didn't know the minutes since they had laid back down when he felt her hand rest in his, and he made the move to lift his fingers to thread through hers. When he turned his head after to look at her, he saw that she was still looking up at the sky with a smile on her lips. She must have felt his gaze upon her and turned her head so they were both looking at each other. "Did you expect that to happen?" He broke the silence.

"Not expect, no," she answered. They fell into silence again and he glanced away from her but only very briefly before looking back. "It's better not to expect these kind of things though," she said.

"I agree," Draco said. "Which is unlike me," he laughed softly.

She smiled and laughed too. "It's nice to be faced with the unknown once in a while. I don't like being fully settled into a routine of always knowing what's ahead."

"You wouldn't have guessed that we would have kissed?" He asked curiously.

He saw her blush then. "I would have hoped," she admitted and then looked away from him in embarrassment. "Was that too forward of me?" She laughed to try and defuse what she felt to be awkward.

"If that was too forward, what am I? I kissed you, remember?"

Hermione didn't say anything for a few seconds but still smiled. "Yeah," she nodded. "You've wanted to do it?"

"Granger, if I hadn't wanted to do it, we wouldn't be here lying in the aftermath of it," he smirked.

"I guess you're right…"

"I thought you knew me, Granger. I'm always right."

—

The both of them had retreated back to the house after spending a bit more time out on the grass talking to each other about nothing in particular. Outside, his hand had left hers after a while to rest behind his head, but it was when they both got too cold that they decided that being indoors was a more appealing idea. Inside, Hermione got herself another glass of champagne whilst Draco poured himself a firewhiskey and glanced to his left when he saw Harry come up to him. "Are you and Hermione together?"

Draco repressed the urge to roll his eyes and he picked up his glass and took a sip of the strong whiskey before answering, "No, Potter."

"You both just—"

"We went outside for half an hour, does that automatically mean she's my girlfriend?" He drawled.

"An hour, more like it."

"Potter, the whole 'protective best friend' speech I can see you planning in your mind is a bit too much like a dramatic movie. Save it for a dream," Draco concluded, not in the mood to be having that sort of conversation, especially with Harry. He himself was confused about what had just happened with Granger and knew everything Potter was trying to say was based on the speculation that they had done something in the time they had outside. Little did he know….

His drink was finished quite quickly and when he went to refill it, he sighed when he felt another person standing by him and repressed the urge to snap, thinking it was Harry, when he turned and saw it was Hermione. "Not happy to see me?" She asked with an arched brow.

"Thought it was Potter," Draco said and put his glass down.

"I saw him talking to you before, what was that about? You looked pissed, to be frank."

"I'm ninety nine percent sure he was going to give me the speech on how I'd better not hurt you or there would be hell to pay," he scoffed.

"Wait. Did he see what happened?" Hermione asked and her eyes widened slightly.

"Nice to see you don't mind if it had happened," he drawled in a joke.

"It's not that, Draco, don't be silly."

"He didn't see us," Draco said. "We were halfway up a bloody hill, no one could see us."

Hermione smiled and then agreed with him. "I've just said my goodbyes to everyone. Are you going to stay?"

"I'd rather scrub fifty cauldrons clean than stay here," Draco said.

"You've had a good time, don't be a spoilt sport," Hermione laughed softly. "Will we go?"

Draco smirked and then looked at the door. "We?" He looked back at her.

"You know what I mean!"

"You're blushing."

"You kiss me once and all of a sudden you tease me even more?" Hermione laughed. "That's very 'school yard' of you."

Draco gave her a look of confusion. "What?"

"It's always been said when a boy likes a girl, he'll try and tease her because he likes her."

"I'm a man and you're a woman, Granger," he said, wanting to rile her up more.

She rolled her eyes and looked back at the door. "Are you coming?"

"If you want me to go home with you so badly, all you have to do is ask."

—

Three days had passed since Draco and Hermione's goodbye during the early morning hours after the Weasley's New Year's Eve party. They had walked from the Burrow and out into the front yard, passed the fence and the hill they had shared their kiss upon. Draco had decided that he should just go home and Hermione seemed fine with that. Neither of them had made any move to kiss and they'd been okay with that too. Miraculously, in the time it had taken him to say his farewells to the few people he wanted to inside (Harry, Ginny and her parents) and then reached where he and Hermione stood then, he had come to the acknowledgement that he had to think, and think hard. While they didn't kiss goodbye, she did reach out slightly and held his fingers and looked up at him to say that she was glad he'd came. He returned the sentiment and then unlaced their fingers and said goodbye. He'd waited for her to say it back before he apparated home.

By himself in the dark of his bedroom that night, laying on his bed with the alcohol making him feel warm and numb at the same time, he had fallen asleep and slept almost until noon the next day. During his sleep, his brain had given him a wild train of thought of the 'alternative' way he and Hermione could have kissed the night previous and a long cold shower was needed once he woke up to let him think straight. Even then, three days later, every morning he had to welcome the day with a freezing shower just because of thoughts about that night.

Over the previous days since the kiss, neither had gotten to see each other again due to the expected increase in work load. Draco had many meetings throughout the day with his clients, and fixing their business and making a case took up the remaining hours of his work day and even when he finished work too. Hermione's exchange program took the back-burner, not only for him, but for her as well and he knew this from the letter she'd sent him two days before, indicating that she didn't have any free time to schedule meetings. Without their regular meetings in place, they didn't see each other at all, not even at break or lunch times which Draco spent in his office while trying to get his work done. As much as he didn't have a home life, he still didn't really like taking it home with him, as the moment he stepped out of the floo, he made himself dinner, ate and then retreated to bed ready to repeat it all again.

He didn't miss Granger because he knew that she was still there and he knew that any feelings about the two of them wouldn't disappear for her in a few short days, just like it hadn't for him. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't know how to proceed from there. In his twenty-nine years, he'd had three relationships — Astoria being the only serious one. Aside from the woman he'd slept with a few times when he was twenty-five, he'd been involved, for lack of a better word, with Pansy in the summer leading into fifth year. That relationship had mainly been for show and an experimentation on what it really was like to have a girlfriend, but they didn't pass anything more than a snog, nor did either of them fall in love. They were teenagers, they didn't know what love was. None of his relationships had been initiated by him and even though he knew how to plan dates, he had no idea how he was supposed to bring up the idea to Hermione. Her words ran through his head then: _'It's better not to expect these kind of things though'_.

Draco wasn't one to deny the blatantly obvious, and right now, that was that he was still fond of Hermione. Long gone were his old prejudices and he hadn't even thought of that since he began to work with her and eventually come to like her. No longer was she the bane of his existence with bushy hair and a prissy attitude, like he had thought back in their school years. While she still had her bushy hair, to him, she was interesting. She was an open and a closed book all at the same time, no matter if that didn't make sense. He felt like he could know what she was feeling just by looking at her face or listening to how she spoke, but then there were parts of her that he knew she wouldn't let him get to easily. Realising he felt for her had been abrupt but he hadn't denied it. He'd been told countless times that he should start looking for someone, not to necessarily settle with, but to be in a relationship with and finally his eyes were beginning to open that maybe that was a good idea. His relationship with Astoria didn't always have the best of times, but he had enjoyed being with her for the most part and he couldn't help but wonder what being with Hermione would be like.

He sighed and pushed his hands through his hair. At present, he was lying in bed and his mind wouldn't give him enough peace to sleep. He wanted to see Hermione again, just to figure out what was happening. With a groan, he sat up in bed and trudged through his house to get to the study. It was a cold night and in retrospect, he realised he should have put on at least one scrap of clothing to stay warm, but he knew he wouldn't be long. He opted out of sitting down on the leather chair at his desk as he _knew_ that wouldn't be the most warmest of things, so he stood and wrote his letter without sitting.

 _Granger,_

 _I'm taking lunch at one o'clock tomorrow. You're the head of your department, I'm sure you can arrange for yourself to be free at that time too. I'll be dining in the cafe we had our last lunch._

 _D._

With that, he rolled the letter and went to his backdoor to get his owl to come to him. Two minutes later, the large bird was off and Draco went back to his bedroom and got under the covers to warm himself. There was no harm in what he'd done and he didn't regret it, and with that, he fell asleep.

—

Draco sat down with a menu in hand in the cafe he'd arranged to meet Hermione in. She had sent a letter back and it had got to him just as he was about to floo to work. His morning had been a rush after he slept ten minutes passed his alarm. He took to a shower and instead of turning the taps to cold, he decided to relieve himself in a more traditional manner which only made him more tired than what he was before. After cleaning, he rushed through having breakfast (he only had the end slice of bread left to toast) and a cup of coffee then took the floo to work after reading Hermione's letter, just in time for his first meeting of the day.

Right on schedule, the door of the cafe opened and Hermione walked in and left her umbrella in the stand by the door. She spotted him across the room and walked over to the table and her face split into a smile. "Long time no see," she greeted him.

He was smiling too and rest his forearms on the table when she sat down. "I'm surprised we still recognise each other," he joked.

"I had a bit of trouble," she laughed and opened the menu in front of her then looked up at him. "What have you been up to?" She asked then started to scan for what she wanted to order.

"This and that," he answered and just watched her since he'd already decided on what he'd be eating. "Meetings galore and mountains of paperwork."

"Tell me about it," she snorted. "It's been incredibly busy and it doesn't seem to be stopping."

"Busier than last year."

"Mmm, I wonder why that is…" She mused and then closed her menu and looked back up at him with a smile. She was just about to open her mouth when a waitress who walked by asked if she could take their order. They placed what they wanted to eat and drink then were left alone again. "I was wondering when you would have owled me," she said.

"What made you think I would?" He smirked.

"Oh, I just knew," she laughed softly. "But really, I would have been owling you today if I hadn't got your note last night."

"Miss me, Granger?" He asked and delighted in seeing the flush over her cheeks, the smirk not leaving his face.

"Maybe I did, Malfoy," Hermione answered and put her hand down to the knife and fork on the table and straightened them out. Silence ensued and Draco glanced around the cafe as it started to get busy for the lunch rush-hour, but instead of sitting in, many people took their coffees and food to go. Not that it would have mattered anyway since Draco had chosen the table furthest from the others so they could have as much privacy as possible in a very non-private area. "What did New Year's mean to you?" She blurted out and then snapped her mouth shut.

He looked to her and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked her slowly.

She took a short breath and then made eye contact. "Did it change anything for you?"

Draco looked down at the table as he thought about what he was going to say. Here was the moment he'd been waiting for, the 'defining' moment as some may put it. "Of course it changed something for me, Granger," he said and didn't look her in the eyes until she said his name.

"It changed things for me too."

"Like?"

"How I think about you…" She trailed off. She looked up quickly when the waitress returned with their drinks and they were both quick to take a sip for a few seconds of thinking time.

"And how do you?" He asked. She chewed slightly on her bottom lip and he knew that it was a sign of her deliberating over if she should speak or not, so he spoke for her, "I know how I think about you. I know that the reason I kissed you was because I wanted to," he said and then thought he'd said too much and shut off and looked away from the table and tried to look outside but the rain obstructed any view.

Hermione sensed his discomfort and she only reached across the table with her hand and traced her fingers over the back of his hand. "Who knows what we're doing, right?" She asked and gave a small smile.

"Good point," he said but didn't have it in him to turn his head and look her in the eye.

—

The rest of their lunch passed seamlessly and the both of them came out of their shells they had started to retreat into at the start. They spoke for so long about everything, but nothing relating to their feelings to each other, and when Draco looked at his watch, he realised they were meant to be back at work in two minutes.

"If anyone asks, we were having a meeting about the exchange program," Hermione laughed as they walked back to the Ministry.

Draco laughed too and held the umbrella tighter when a gust of wind pulled at it. It hadn't been raining when he'd arrived at the cafe, but since it was now, he took responsibility of adequately covering the both of them as they returned to work. "Thank you for coming today," he said to her as they turned onto the road where they would enter the Ministry.

"I wouldn't have said no," Hermione told him and he was extremely aware of how tightly pressed to his side she was. Maybe it was only to keep out of the rain, but maybe it was for other combined reasons as well — he liked to think it was the latter. They stopped by the street entrance of the Ministry, but Hermione put her hand on his arm and walked a little further from the door. He knew she was about to say something and he looked down at her while her gaze was down at her own feet for a few seconds. "I would like to do this more often," she admitted. "Not just lunches, but proper…you know."

"I know," he nodded and saw her shoulders relax.

"I… Call me crazy, but I want this to progress," she laughed and pushed her fringe back from nerves and he smiled slightly and shook his head at her.

"Then I'll have to call the both of us crazy."

She looked up at him and he lifted his hand up to fix the strand of her fringe that was sticking up. "I'll owl you when I get home," she said. He nodded and went to hand her umbrella back to her but was blindsided when she lifted up onto her tip-toes and pressed her lips to his. It was a peck at first until they drew away and Draco's hand, seemingly on its own accord, cupped her cheek and drew her back in. He kissed her back softly and when he pulled away they both silently agreed that would be the end of their kisses — for that day. She smiled up at him then and shook her head as she laughed.

He laughed too and handed her umbrella back to her. "I'll respond to your owl as soon as I get it," he told her.

"I look forward to it," she said and gave him one last smile before she turned and headed to the entrance of the Ministry and disappeared inside, leaving Draco out so he could use the cool, fine air to his advantage of clearing his head.

* * *

 **A/N: There you go! Hope you enjoyed, I scrapped and re-wrote a lot of this so I'm not particularly fond of it. Please do review and let me know how you're finding the progression! Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Just remember, large paragraphs in italics = flashbacks**

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In the week that past since Draco and Hermione's kiss outside the Ministry, he had come to learn a lot about her. He learnt that the desk in her office was the most untidy desk he'd ever seen in his life, strewn with parchment, books and a mixture of stationary, but the rest of her office was immaculate. He learnt that when she found something especially funny, her cheeks would turn red and her eyes would tear up. Apart from these small little quirks, Draco discovered that she'd had three previous relationships, and that while she loved her job, she longed for more than two days of time off at a time, and had even admitted that sometimes she worried her work would be the catalyst for her being even more unable to keep the bonds of her friendships strong. He'd assured her that no matter how many hours she worked, it was clear to anyone with sight that her friends were too sappy to leave her. Throughout everything they'd learnt about each other through their conversations during coffee and lunch breaks and the odd meeting about the project they would have, one thing he didn't enjoy about Hermione still stood constant…

"Malfoy, I really don't understand why you can be so worked up about the amount of sugar I put in my coffee," Hermione said primly and put down the third empty sugar tube packet she'd just used and stirred her coffee.

"Because it's not bloody normal," Draco said and took a drink of his own.

"And what _is_ 'bloody normal'?" She questioned.

"That would be no sugar at all."

"And that's normal because it's what you take — or don't take, at that?" She raised an eyebrow. When he nodded, she couldn't hold back her smile or contain her laugh which made him smile too even though he hid it behind his mug of coffee as he took a sip.

Today marked their first proper date together. He hadn't worked up the courage (though he'd never admit that was why) to ask her face-to-face, so when he responded to one of her notes that they frequently sent each other via owl, he added in that he would like to catch up with her outside of work and not under work circumstances. Not once did he mention the word date, nor did Hermione bring it up in her response, but said that she would love to catch up and that Saturday morning would be the perfect time to do it. So on Friday night, instead of drinking glasses of firewhiskey to celebrate the end of the week, Draco turned in for bed at a reasonable time so he could wake up on Saturday morning and mentally prepare himself for the day ahead.

 _After spending ten minutes deliberating over what he was meant to wear, Draco settled on a dark grey jumper and dark jeans. Half an hour later, after spending a considerable amount of time perfecting his 'messy but classy' hair style, he took the floo network to Hermione's home and arrived in her empty living room. Only when he looked at his watch did he realise how eager he'd been by arriving fifteen minutes early to when she had told him to arrive. He didn't want to take the floo home because that would show him as a fool if she had heard him arrive in the first place, but her house was so silent that he wondered if she was even home._

 _Three minutes passed and he stood with his hands in his pockets in the middle of her living room when he heard a thumping noise. Shrugging it off, he thought it must be her cat doing something ridiculous, and resumed staring blankly at the wall. The thumping returned and he furrowed his brows and stepped towards the archway but when he reached it, heard a hastily muttered "Shit!". He smirked and went to call out her name to announce his presence but to his surprise, in his direct line of vision was her open bedroom door, just down the hall of where the archway he was standing in was. His mouth opened to alert her that he was there but he snapped his jaw shut when he saw her walk past the door without seeing him. She was bent over trying to zip up one of her ankle boots and he realised that was probably the thumping noise he'd heard before, but looking at her boots was the last thing on his mind as he trailed his eyes up her jean-clad legs and to her torso._

 _Hermione was wearing nothing but a nude coloured bra and stood up straight when she accomplished zipping up her boot. Luckily for Draco (he didn't want to seem like a complete pervert on the first date), she turned away from the door and it was when he saw the bare skin of her stomach that he backtracked to standing in front of the fireplace. His eyes had widened over the discovery and he knew he'd done the right thing of moving away after only a few seconds of looking at her bare back. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, he called out her name to say that he had arrived and received back a call of, "I'll just be a minute!"_

Twenty minutes later into their date, Draco started new conversation once they'd received the scones that she had ordered for them. "So, tell me. What does the average Saturday normally entail for Hermione Granger?" Draco asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Why do you assume that I only have average Saturdays, hm?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do I not strike you to have a completely exciting life outside of work?"

Draco smirked. "Do you really want me to answer that, Granger?" He joked and received a kick to his shin under the table. He laughed and felt her feet settle, one between his foot and her other on his other side but he didn't say anything about it.

"Saturday is my day to exit my work life and re-enter the real world," she laughed softly. "I clean, organise, cook, food shop, do my laundry," she listed. "Very exciting, didn't I tell you?" She joked.

"I'd love to see how wild you get on a Sunday then," he teased.

"Ah yes, I'm a babysitter on Sundays. Incredibly wild," she rolled her eyes.

"For the Potter's kids?"

Hermione nodded. "Just James at the moment and only for a few hours in the morning. Ginny and Harry have lunch dates on Sundays but still take Albus because he has to breastfeed—"

"So they dump their kid with you?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"They hardly _dump_ him, Malfoy," Hermione said. "I love spending time with James and I offer to look after him. We have great fun together."

"Remind me to stay away from your house on Sundays then," he drawled and was only half-joking.

"Mm, I forgot how Draco Malfoy was scared of such terrifying things as babies," Hermione teased him right back and received a look of him narrowing his eyes at her. "Oh loosen up," she said lightly with a smile and took a scone from the plate on the middle of the table and started to spread a layer of strawberry jam on it. "What do you normally do on the weekend?" She asked once she'd added a layer of freshly whipped cream atop the jam.

It took Draco a few seconds longer to answer as his brain became muddled when he watched her move her thumb to her mouth to lick off some cream she'd gotten on it. He knew she hadn't meant to look alluring to him as she'd simply just cleaned off her finger, nor did she even realise his pause. Seeing her do that action had made Draco think about their parting kiss — more of a peck — that had occurred on the last time they'd seen each other two days previous. They had kissed behind the closed door of his office just before she'd had to leave, but after she had left it had sunk into him that what they shared together wasn't simply mutual attraction and the occasional meet-up to share coffee together. "I catch up on a lot of work," he answered her question. "A lot of things are easy to back up so the weekend is a good time for me to get everything sorted before the week starts again."

"You just do work?" She asked and he glanced up at her briefly and noticed the expression on her face. Subtle disbelief.

"Some people don't need to be surrounded by their friends to get by, Granger," Draco said and took a scone from the plate and started to spread cream and jam on it.

"I wasn't saying that—"

"But you were wondering," he said. "I sometimes visit my mother on the odd weekend," he added. "I don't spend my complete life in solitude." She didn't say anything in response and he knew that he had answered her unspoken questions. He'd known as her expression had been reminiscent of his mother whenever he said that he hadn't seen his friends in weeks or that he was spending another weekend doing work, although where Hermione kept her questions to herself, Narcissa did not and would easily express her concern, and sometimes annoyance, that he spent more time by himself than with others.

There was silence between them as they both ate their scone. He wasn't angry at her and when he stole a glance at her, she didn't look angry either. Quite the opposite really when she looked up to him and smiled when he was doing the same thing. "They're nice scones, aren't they?"

"They certainly are," he said and gave her a small smile.

The door to the cafe opened and Hermione turned and saw the person that walked in and then turned back to the table and took a bite of her scone. "You know how you told me that Harry harassed you about the two of us on New Years?" She mentioned and he nodded. "I got the same conversation."

He laughed at that and spread a bit more cream on his remaining scone. "I bet that was a fun conversation. What did he say?"

"Oh, was it ever," Hermione laughed. "He asked me if you and I were seeing each other."

Draco raised an eyebrow and ran his finger around the rim of his coffee cup, "And what did you answer?" He asked after a lengthy pause. He still didn't meet her eyes but changed his line of sight to look at the person behind the cafe counter make a coffee.

"I said that we've been seeing each other more often," Hermione said and underneath the table, he felt her move her feet from where they were pressed against his and it made him look up at her. She gave a nervous smile and brushed her fringe to the side but to no avail as it fell right back where it had been and it made his lips curve up.

"You didn't say that we're seeing each other?" He asked. "In that way," he added.

"Uh…I thought it would be imprudent of me to say yes if I didn't know the answer for sure."

Draco cursed in his head, knowing that now was as good a time as any to speak up about what he had been thinking. Over the weeks that they had been meeting up, it was clear they had both formed an attraction to each other. Although kisses had been shared between them, Draco didn't know if that was enough to classify them as being in a relationship just yet. They didn't know enough about each other yet for that to happen. "I…" He started and knew he'd have to choose his words wisely. "I don't think that we should put labels on it just yet," he said and looked at her when he heard a sigh.

Instead of it being a disappointed sigh like he thought he would end up causing, it was a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you think that too," she said and smiled. "We'll take things one step at a time. Right?"

"Right…"

—

Morning tea had easily transferred over to lunch which led into afternoon tea. Draco and Hermione were completely oblivious to the time, and for the first time in a long time, he didn't regularly look at his watch to see when he could leave. They had talked and laughed over the hours, with him even managing to say something funny enough that Hermione clutched at her stomach and then had to wipe the tears from her eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he'd smiled so genuinely as when he did looking at her.

It was when they ended up being the only patrons in the cafe that Hermione looked around. "Draco, maybe we should leave," she said. "They might want to close up." He agreed and the both of them went to the front counter and after a brief argument over who would pay, they decided to split it equally. With their wallet and purse considerably lighter after paying for the amount of food they'd eaten over the period of almost six hours, they left the cafe and he followed as she turned to the left. They fell into step together and Hermione's arm brushed his as they walked and his hand occasionally touched the side of hers every few steps. "Who would have known…" He heard her sigh and he looked at her to see the small smile on her face.

"Known what?" He questioned her.

"You know…" She said and then looked at him too. "That we'd be doing this. That we'd have sat for so long talking like we did."

He nodded and put his hands in his pockets. After they'd walked a few steps, he spoke. "You said yourself it's better not to expect things like this."

"I know, I don't mean it in a bad way," Hermione said and stopped walked and he did too. "Would you maybe like to come back to my place?" She asked. "We can maybe talk about…it." He looked at her and then down to her hands as she held them clasped together tightly and he knew that she was nervous. He didn't speak but only nodded and she gave him a small smile and walked a little further down the street until there was a side-alley they could enter without looking suspicious. She put her hand on his arm and a few seconds later, they arrived in her living room. "Please," she said and gestured to her sofa, "Sit. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Granger, half the liquid in my body is made out of tea and coffee after today," Draco chuckled since they had drank an awful lot of the stuff. Hermione laughed softly and sat down on her sofa after he did, and angled her body towards him with one leg bent up onto the couch.

"What I said before…" She began.

"I didn't take it as something bad," Draco said and he truly hadn't. "I would never have expected this," he gestured his hand between them, "To happen."

"That's what I was trying to say," Hermione agreed. "I didn't want it to sound like I hadn't expected it due to who we are, that's not the case at all," she said and Draco didn't respond but wanted to hear what she had to say. "Eleven or so years ago, I would never have expected us to be like this but for completely different reasons. _Because_ of what we were to each other back then. I would have been under the impression that you only would have thought of me as another Muggleborn and like how people thought of me in school."

"A bookworm?" He said with a smirk. "Still do, Granger," he joked, wanting her to know that he wasn't taking offence from what she was saying.

She rolled her eyes and seemed a little less tense. "Back then I only based my tolerance of you, shall we say, from my knowledge of what you had been involved in," she said, choosing her words wisely. He nodded and knew it was true and found no reason to be defensive. He knew he didn't have to apologise again for what he had done years ago. "But that was eleven years ago," she said. " _Now_ I just didn't expect it for other reasons."

"Like…?" He pushed.

"Oh I don't know. Not knowing if we would have the same interests, not knowing if we'd be able to be in the same room without having an argument—"

"We're getting better at not doing that," he chuckled.

"We are," Hermione smiled. "Before we started working together, I didn't know if you were in a relationship and you wouldn't have known if I was either. The reasons I didn't expect us to be together were just reasons that had nothing to do with how we used to see each other."

"The past is in the past."

"It is," Hermione nodded. "And while I don't like to forget certain things of the past, I know that it is something that we learn from, intentionally or not." She surprised him by letting her hand rest down on top of his that was on the couch. "You and I both know that what you did as a teenager is forgiven. When I look at you, I don't even think about who you once were. I think of you now as who you are."

He stiffened slightly at the unwanted thoughts that flickered through his mind and he almost withdrew his hand, but he persevered. Although he had looked away, he forced himself to lock eyes with her again. He knew she didn't mean it badly and he wasn't taking it badly. He knew that it was impossible for anyone to forget his past, but he was grateful that she truly had forgiven him. Their world was free of what once ran rampant during the Second Wizarding War. Neither of them had any more to fear of than the next average person on the streets, and even though thoughts of his past often plagued his mind, he had to remind himself that it was over ten years ago. Everyone had learned and moved on, especially him. As Hermione said, he _had_ learnt from his mistakes and he was a different man because of it. While his thoughts raged on in his head, Hermione sat patient with him and only when she squeezed his fingers did he realise that he couldn't let such thoughts consume him. He gave her a small smile. "What am I now, to you?" He asked.

"I don't want to inflate your ego," Hermione joked and made him chuckle. He watched a slight blush rise on her cheeks and he realised why that was so when she shifted closer to him on the couch and leaned close to him. He twisted his body slightly to her, meaning their faces were closer together and watched her tongue slightly wet her lips. "To me, you're Draco Malfoy," she said and pressed her lips gently on his before pulling back a tad. "You're the man who used to be just another sort-of-co-worker, but you're now a friend." He closed the small gap between them and took her bottom lip between his and then kissed her firmer for a few seconds. When he pulled back he could hear her breathing and he looked her in the eyes. "Now you're the person I'm forever grateful to for helping me achieve one of my dreams," she spoke in almost a whisper. She was talking of the project, he knew, and he kissed her for another second before drawing back.

"I thought we shouldn't have labels?" He questioned softly but was beginning to think otherwise. Although they'd only had one _official_ date didn't make Draco question his changed feelings towards her. He believed that they were genuinely friends before any of this other complicated 'feelings-business' came into the works.

Hermione's hand came up to his cheek and her thumb moved against his barely-there stubble and she leaned forward to gently press her lips to the corner of his mouth. "There's no harm in trying, right?" She asked and her lips brushed his with every syllable.

"You've never been more correct," Draco said and let his eyes close as he severed the distance between them and kissed her harder than before. Her hands rest on his shoulders, fingers curling into his shirt and he snaked his tongue out to touch her lips. She let out a breath and allowed him access and like every kiss they'd had before, he brought his hand to her cheek to pull her closer. The soft noises she made was like music to his ears and they got lost in the kiss, for how long, he didn't know.

Hermione's grip tightened on his shoulders and she pushed him gently until their lips parted. Their heavy breathing was the only sound in the room until she brushed her thumb on the corner of his lips. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong for her to draw back, because she looked just as eager as he knew he probably did, to continue. "I uh…" She began and tried to push her fringe back to no avail. "I want to keep those… _things_ slow," she finished and her cheeks grew red in embarrassment.

"That's fine," he nodded. "I understand," he said truthfully and then gave her a soft smile which she returned.

He watched her stand up from the couch and ran her hands through her hair in attempt to tame it. "Right. Water? You'd want some water? I'll go get it," she blabbered on and then left the living room to go to her kitchen. Draco chuckled and leaned back on the sofa and relived that kiss fondly.

* * *

 **A/N: I'll be trying something a bit new in the next chapter with Hermione's POV (not first person). It'll just be a tester to see how you guys like it and it might stay or go.** **Hope you all enjoyed! Please review; it means the world to me!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'll apologise in advance for the short length of this chapter. Unexpected family circumstances and hospital visits took ahold which held priority. I didn't want to leave the fic any longer without an update so here you go - short, but here it is.**

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Hermione ever so carefully draped a blanket over James who was taking a nap on the guest bed. It was the only time the six year old ever stopped resembling a whirlwind of energy because from the moment he was dropped off every Sunday morning, to the moment Ginny picked him up four hours later, he hardly ever ceased talking, playing or running around. She really did love the little boy and loved babysitting him and knew without it, her weekends would surely be dull. She had babysat him for the majority of Sunday mornings since he was two and a half years old and would always want to do that, even when he would eventually become 'too cool' to be babysat anymore by his Aunt Her-mee. Yes, that was correct; ever since James started developing his words more, instead of being referred to as an adorable baby grunt or babble as she had been for his first several months of life, she had become known as Aunt Her-mee, something she'd tried to discourage at first, but had now grown rather fond of.

She double checked that James was fast asleep under the blanket before she stepped out of the room, half closing the door. She gave one last glance of him sleeping under the blanket and smiled. She'd made that blanket six years ago and it had taken her a year to finish. She'd aimed to pick up the skill of knitting again after she'd gone out of the habit of doing it once she left school, and when she set her mind to completing a task or learning a new skill, she always completed it. Even if it did take a year. However, when Harry or Ginny would tease her about it, she would sniff and say that she'd been too consumed with work-related issues to spend her free time knitting a blanket. It was a deep purple colour and not something that suited any of her sheets in her bedroom, but she really did love the colour purple. She'd also aimed to make it fit her queen sized bed, but it had ended up being the size of a double, making it perfect to go on the guest bed and be dubbed 'my blankie' by James who always snuggled with it when he napped.

Exiting the guest bedroom, she walked down the hall to go to the living room and tidy up from the mess that came with babysitting. There were two cups and bowls on the coffee table from their snack of grape juice and macaroni and cheese (James insisted she eat the same as him) and the floor was littered with a variety of toys that James would bring over to play with, and a few that Hermione had bought over the years for the times that he would be over. As Hermione cleaned up, it reminded her of the previous day with Draco. Instead of staying for a short amount of time which is what had been originally planned, he had ended up leaving at seven o'clock, and even then, she wished he would have stayed longer.

 _"What made you want to become a solicitor?" Hermione asked him curiously. They both held a mug of tea in their hands and she was sitting on the couch with her legs up, facing him; they were close enough that her knees were pressed against his thigh. The past couple of hours had seen the both of them talking about any topic that suited their fancy and when they didn't speak, they sat in comfortable silence, and more recently, she had turned on the telly to a low volume which they would watch when conversation ran dry._

 _"Several reasons," Draco answered and took a sip of tea. Over the day, Hermione had come to realise what topics he found more difficult to talk about, purely by how long it took him to answer and how much eye contact he would hold. As they spoke now, he hadn't looked her in the eye. She found it an interesting habit of his, to avoid eye contact. Years ago, when he was a teenager, she knew that he would have thought of himself as all-but Wizarding royalty due to his name and status. Where Draco Malfoy once stood tall and didn't break gaze with anyone who spoke to him, seeing it as a sign of weakness, it was now a rare sight to see. Hermione was glad that they were now close enough that he saw his eyes much more._

 _"Have you always had an interest in law?" She asked, probing him further._

 _He shrugged. "Not always. Only after the war. I didn't leave my house a lot the year following my trial and in that time I read a lot and it just so happened that a lot of those books were on Wizarding law throughout the years."_

 _"Those are quite interesting books," Hermione agreed and chose not to ask him about why he didn't leave his home as she had an idea just why that may have been. "Although some methods used in trial hundreds of years ago were quite barbaric."_

 _Draco hummed in agreement. "I think that's part of the reason why I wanted to become a solicitor…"_

 _"Why, to commit barbaric acts?" She teased him and was glad to see his lips curl into a smile._

 _He shook his head, however. "To give people the justice they deserve," he said. "To let innocent people walk free without consequence; to find the truth. To prosecute people in the way that they deserve."_

 _She nodded at his reason and was rather impressed. She knew that he'd had more encounters with being prosecuted than the majority, if not all, the solicitors he worked with, but to see his perseverance in his career was something she respected highly. "Do you feel like you've achieved those things?" She asked and leaned over to her coffee table to place her empty mug down and reached back to take his and do the same when she saw he too was finished._

 _"I have," he nodded. "I haven't helped in any wrongful convictions. I've helped secure some cells in Azkaban for some of the most vile people to walk the Earth. I try and search for the truth wherever possible — it's the least I can do for some people; some victims or their families."_

 _"The truth is always important."_

 _"It is. In some respects I take pride in doing my work better than how my family was treated after the War," he admitted. "If the truth had been more acknowledged about my actions, my mother wouldn't have suffered as much ridicule and embarrassment simply for having Malfoy as her last name."_

 _He stopped talking abruptly and Hermione noticed his jaw become taut and his eyes dart around the room before settling on staring at the wall. "We don't need to talk about it," she murmured and put her hand on the back of his neck and ran her fingernails through the hair at the base of his neck. He turned his head, in knowledge of what she was about to do, and before she could act upon it first, he had closed the gap between them and pressed their lips together._

Her and Draco had kissed more than she'd expected they would that night. She could remember the feeling of his lips on hers and his slight stubble grazing her chin and cheeks when he would kiss the corner of her mouth. She felt a delightful swoop in her stomach as she glanced at the couch again and remembered the feeling she'd experienced every time they had kissed, and more so when he had pushed his fingers through her hair to cup her head, slightly grabbing her hair in his fingers in a way that didn't even make her think about the slight pain. Hermione was snapped out of her reverie when the fireplace lit up, signalling someone arriving by floo. Sure enough, on time as always, Ginny stepped out and brushed off the small amount of dust from her jeans. "Hey," she greeted with a smile. For the mother of a six year old and a barely one month old baby, Ginny looked stunning. Motherhood suited her, Hermione had decided six years ago when she'd first seen the redhead cradle James in her arms and every time they'd seen each other after that. She seemed to be always happy, even when her sons weren't being the most co-operative humans in the world, or when she experienced moments that Hermione would rather pull her hair out than deal with. "Is he napping?" Ginny asked.

"Just like always," Hermione laughed. "How was lunch?" She asked and sat down on the couch and patted the space next to her so the other woman could join.

"It was beautiful," Ginny smiled. "We went to a manor hotel which serves some of the most delicious food and cakes I think I've ever tasted. I wanted to stay longer but Albus wasn't having it," she rolled her eyes and sat next to Hermione. "Him and Harry went home for a nap; that seems to be all those two do."

Hermione laughed. "Sounds like you had quite the morning," she said. "James was telling me all about how Harry took him up on the broom yesterday."

" _Much_ to my dismay. The man waited until I had decided to go to the shops with Albus!" She laughed which made Hermione laugh too. Ever since James had been born, Harry had been adamant that he'd take his son on the broom as soon as he was able to hold his head up — an age that Ginny soon changed. To Hermione's knowledge, she didn't know when they'd agreed on letting James fly, but by the looks of things, it hadn't been six years old.

"I'm sure he enjoyed it," she said. "He wouldn't stop talking about it for at _least_ half an hour."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "He's his father's son through and through," she said. "I don't know what I'm going to do when he goes to Hogwarts," she laughed lightly. She paused and then realisation struck her. "How did your night with Malfoy go?!" She asked with extreme enthusiasm which reminded her of Ginny's excitement the night of the Yule Ball, asking how things had went with Viktor so many years ago.

Hermione laughed when Ginny exclaimed and leaned forward in her seat. "It went…" Hermione began and trailed off as her lips curled into a smile. "Really good," she laughed softly, in moderate disbelief at what she was saying. The day before yesterday, they had seen each other when Hermione dropped off some things for Harry and she couldn't resist but to spill the beans to Ginny that she was going on, what could quite possibly be, a date with Draco. Ginny hadn't been too surprised — _"After seeing you two at the Christmas party and then New Years… I've been waiting for you to tell me."_ — but had insisted hermione tell her everything about what happened when they next caught up on Sunday. Hermione hadn't done so when Ginny dropped James off that morning, because she hadn't particularly wanted to talk about what her and Draco got up to while Harry would have been listening too, but she had almost forgotten she'd promised to give Ginny all the details.

"Come on. _Spill_!" Ginny encouraged. "Was he good?"

" _Ginny_!" Hermione blushed and laughed at her friend's blunt nature. She had always been like that and on more than one occasion Hermione had to stop her talking about certain things before she keeled over in embarrassment and horror over what Ginny told her (hearing about what Harry had done to her on the night of her previous birthday was one of those things). "We didn't do what you're implying we did," Hermione told her.

Ginny sighed dramatically. "Then what did you do?"

"A lot, actually," Hermione said, and quickly started to explain herself when Ginny looked like she'd butt in. "We had morning tea at our usual cafe near work. That turned into lunch and afternoon tea very quickly," she laughed. "We talked; it was the most talking I think he's ever done in his entire life but it was good. I learnt more about him."

"Harry said that he hardly knows anything about him," Ginny said.

"I don't doubt it," Hermione said and didn't want to tell Ginny anything personal that Draco had said — there was a reason he hadn't told anyone else. "He's private. I think that's why it felt more special."

"Did you come back here?" Ginny asked with a sly smile on her face.

"Yes," Hermione blushed. "We didn't do anything but talk… And kiss a little bit."

"I wouldn't have pictured him as a man to go slow on the first date," Ginny admitted which Hermione felt was a little unfair of her to say.

"Well he did," she answered instead. Not once had Hermione slept with any of her previous partners on the first date, and Ginny very well knew the reason for that, so Hermione just took her questions and comments as friendly teasing.

"And how was the kissing?" Ginny probed with a smirk.

Quick flashes of the memories of the kisses came back to Hermione and she laughed and placed her hands on her burning cheeks. "It was… He… I don't…" She rambled before rolling her eyes to get a hold of herself. " _Incredible_."

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 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Feedback on this P.O.V and chapter in general is appreciated. Hopefully the next update will be sooner and longer. Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I promised you guys a longer and quicker update so here I am :) Enjoy!**

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For all that Draco enjoyed spending time with Hermione and had the added benefit of being able to kiss her in private, it did not improve any desire he had to sit in meetings. Even though it was about her project that he'd come to care more about over the past few weeks, it was _still_ a meeting to him, and by twenty minutes in, he was quickly losing interest in doing anything productive. They were in Hermione's office for a change and it had been almost a week from their first 'date'. Her office was a lot more personable than his and much larger due to the position she held in her department. Four photo frames were on her large desk — two on either corner, facing towards her — and there were other photos dotting around the place; mostly on the limited free space on the many bookshelves that lined the office's right wall. A nice rug was spread across the ground in front of her desk and as Draco reclined back in the chair he was sitting in, he wanted nothing more than to take his feet out of his shoes, take his socks off, and squish the carpet between his toes. His attention in the current moment, was on the large window behind Hermione, replicating the weather outside that was typical of early January; dark, gloomy and wet.

The both of them had been spending the past hour writing up notes, although the first five minutes was spent having a 'hello-we-haven't-seen-each-other-in-two-days' kiss followed by fifteen minutes of talking about nothing related to work before diving into the project. Although Hermione had been working tirelessly as her job of Head of her department, she was still making time for herself to think of more ideas and work on existing ideas to improve her proposal of exchange students and Draco had gotten an owl at nine o'clock the previous night asking if they could have a meeting. He didn't have any reason to say no as he too had been thinking about the project and had done the odd thing or two to further his ideas. That and of course, he wanted to spend some more time with Hermione. In the four days since their 'date' (Draco still didn't think it should have been classified as a proper first date), they had met up consistently every day, more than once. Their morning coffee breaks were spent at the coffee cart in the atrium where he still grimaced at her need for three sugars, and she still rolled her eyes and laughed at his expression. Hermione had decided that it was more believable if she came to his office instead of vice-versa, once or twice a day, as her position of Head of her department meant she may have more need to contact him and his services rather than him leave his office to seek her out. The time they spent in his office was merely for chatting. About everything and nothing in particular but Draco found that it was better that way. They never got into very serious topics and when they did, his discomfort was shown and he was grateful Hermione knew how to pick up on it and would change the subject.

 _"_ _I forgot to ask you…" Hermione started. She sat on the chair in front of his desk while he sat behind it, twirling his quill between his fingers. "Has your mother been okay throughout New Years? I remember when we bumped into Parkinson and Zabini that you said she had trouble with this time of year."_

 _Draco stiffened when Hermione said that. While his mother had insisted to him that she was fine, he wasn't oblivious to the lifeless look in her eyes as she looked at the Christmas tree, or spoke about the New Year's Eve party she attended with her other friends and their husbands. Draco knew that his mother only wanted Lucius to be home at this time of year so she could spend time with him, give him the Christmas presents she always bought and wrapped for him but could never give, show him the Christmas tree she decorated, and attend the parties with her arm linked with his. He knew that Hermione had meant nothing malicious from her question as he had never spoken about his parents collectively to her, so how would she know of the true difficulty the Christmas and New Years' season brought to him and his mother. He didn't miss Lucius in the slightest, but it was difficult for Draco to watch his mother in such emotional pain from her missing husband._

 _"_ _We don't need to talk about it," Hermione said to him and broke Draco from his thoughts. He hadn't known that he'd been silent for a considerable amount of time and didn't even realise he'd been looking completely away from Hermione as he did so. "Let me tell you what I saw on the way to work this morning, you'll_ never _believe it…" She grinned and he felt himself warm inside at the initiative she took to take his mind off things he didn't want it to be on. He realised that he shouldn't take her actions for granted at all and also understood that she knew more about him than, most likely, either of them had realised._

Draco's gaze turned to Hermione and he watched her read over what she had just spent the last fifteen minutes writing. He saw her brows slightly furrowed and he could see the tip of her tongue caught between her teeth as she concentrated on the words on the paper in front of her. He thought about his desire to kiss her then. In the past few days, they had shared more kisses than he anticipated they would. Nothing went further than that, and he was surprised at himself with how okay he was at that and how okay he felt about not progressing their physical relationship quickly. Many times, after several minutes of kissing Hermione deeply, she pulled back with a blush on her cheeks and would start to ramble on about something unrelated, pat him on the chest, then get back to work. He really did enjoy kissing her and, as Hermione Granger was good at everything she put her mind to, she was _very_ good at kissing. So good in fact, he felt quite weak in the knees afterwards — not something he'd readily admit to anyone living _or_ dead. As he watched her read her document, his eyes went to her hands and saw her holding her quill elegantly between her fingers. It was only after a few seconds that he truly realised the slight jump in her hand — the tremors. He kept watching for a few minutes to see if it was only spur of the moment, but her hand continued to tremble gently. It was nothing too noticeable, but it made him furrow his brows. His curiosity, and some part concern, rose when she put down her quill and stretched her fingers out as far as she could, then curled them into a fist, repeating the action several times over. When she ceased her hand's movements, he looked up at her face and saw her staring at him. He opened his mouth to ask a question but she interrupted him. "It's my nerves," she answered and her cheeks reddened slightly and she turned back to her page and picked up her quill and started to jot down notes at the bottom. Nosily, he wanted to know more, but from the tone of her voice and her immediate silence after her answer to his unspoken question, he figured that she didn't want to talk. He could respect that because she respected his wishes to not talk when he was uncomfortable with a subject, so all he did was pick up his own quill and started to force himself to write more notes to improve his arguments for the project in rebuttal of anyone who may disagree.

After another half an hour of quiet work between the two of them, Hermione looked up. "I'm going to try and arrange a meeting with the French Minister of Education and Headmistress Lefèvre from Beauxbatons. I'd really like it if you came along too," she added with a small smile. "It would make things a lot easier with the both of us there as we're both knowledgable on what we're proposing and you'll have answers to many of their questions too."

Draco nodded and sat up properly in the chair instead of slouched down. "I think that would be a good idea," he said. "When are you going to arrange it for?"

"I'm not sure," she answered and opened a drawer in her desk and withdrew a thick diary and flipped through it until she reached the current date. "My schedule's quite full for the next month or so, but there are a couple of days that I could arrange to have my work halted here so we can spend a day or two in France."

"I'll need to check my appointments," Draco said since because of his demand as a solicitor, many of his clients booked months in advance to arrange consistent meetings. "When I go back to my office I'll check the dates that I'm free for February and March and we can compare."

"Great," she smiled and then put down her quill. "I don't know about you but I could really do with something to eat and drink."

He hummed in agreement, stood up from the chair and rolled his shoulders back, hearing a satisfying crack. "You've never said anything better," he joked with a chuckle. "Come on, I'm sure we can sneak off for an early morning tea."

She agreed and stood up from her chair too and joined him on the other side of the desk. "I'll get us something and don't argue," she said when he opened his mouth to protest. Knowing just what Hermione did whenever he insisted on paying for her things, he knew he'd have to devise a sneaky way to pay her back, possibly by leaving some galleons on her coffee table the next time he visited her house. Speaking of…

"Is my invitation still applicable for tonight?" He asked her since she'd included in one of the letters she'd sent to him the night previous that due to it being a Friday the next day, he should come to her house some time after work.

"Of course," she nodded and looked up at him as they walked to the door of her office and he opened it up and allowed her to walk out first. "Unless you have other plans?"

Draco snorted as they walked down through the department to the lifts. "Granger, I didn't ever have plans until you became consistent in my life."

—

"Well, well, well, look at this fancy set up," Draco drawled as he came from the fireplace after flooding to Hermione's house. On the coffee table, a red cloth had been draped over it and atop it sat two full red wine glasses, the bottle of said wine sitting next to it, and a platter of different cheeses and crackers.

He'd noticed that Hermione wasn't in the room when he came in and he heard from down the hall, calling out, "I'll just be a minute, I'm getting changed!" He didn't think that was silly, as when he had gone home, he'd changed into a smarter looking shirt, tie and pants, even though he knew they'd only be in her home. From his previous altercation of accidentally seeing her through her open bedroom door, he decided to stay clear of the living room archway to give her the privacy she needed and instead he walked to the sofa and sat down and loosened up his tie just a little bit. When Hermione came into the room, he was reading the label on the wine bottle, and once he looked up, his lips parted slowly. She wore a fitted, v-neck blouse and jeans that unavoidably hugged the curves of her legs and to Draco, she looked incredible. He stood up from the couch and smiled when he saw her blush under his gaze.

"What's the fancy occasion?" He asked to lighten the situation and not let her feel as embarrassed.

Hermione laughed and started to feel more comfortable. "Oh, I'm just waiting for this prat to come visit me. Seen him anywhere?" She joked.

"Funny," Draco rolled his eyes. He watched her step forward and take the bottom of his tie between her fingers and look up at him. "Don't look at me like that unless you want to be kissed," he warned her.

The corner of her lips turned into a smirk. "Maybe I did want a kiss?" She asked. "Just a little one though…" He chuckled and dipped his head to press his lips to her and give her a soft kiss. He didn't think he would be able to fully comprehend what was happening — kissing Hermione in her living room; but it was becoming more normal than he thought it would be. After all, in the last month they'd spent a considerable amount of time together and for around half of that time they'd been involved in acts that people in a relationship would be involved in too. Neither of them had officially referred to the other as a 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend', but in Draco's mind, he knew that they were in a relationship. They may not touch and play as most couples would, but they still spent a lot of time together, time that Draco cherished very dearly which had also changed for him from when they'd first worked together on her project. If Hermione had only been a friend to him, he would have made an excuse not to come to her house that evening, but he found himself counting down the time at the end of his work shift, ready to go home and change to meet her at her house. Because he genuinely enjoyed her company and enjoyed her as a person more and more with every passing minute they spent in each other's presence. Even when they weren't physically together, they sent short letters between them via owl, and although eighty per cent of those letters contained talk about work, the other twenty per cent was normal conversation and conversation that if someone else were to look at, would see them as flirtatious conversations between partners. Ever since the very first note she had sent to him, he had kept all of her memos and letters addressed to him, safely in the drawer of his desk in his study.

Draco's hands cupped Hermione's cheeks and by the time they pulled apart, the both of them were breathless and her cheeks had reddened. He smiled at that and brushed his thumbs across the colour on her cheeks, just under her cheek bones, and she dipped her head in embarrassment until he made her look at him. All he gave her was a look, and then dropped his hands and sat on the sofa and she joined him, sitting close, and she picked up the both of their wine glasses and handed him his. "A toast…" He said and raised his glass slightly. "To…"

"Us," Hermione finished off and tipped her glass to touch his gently and they both took a sip of the wine. He found that he liked the taste even though he was rather impartial to red wine, and the two of them sipped in silence for a few minutes.

"Don't take offence to this," he said after a while but avoided her eyes. "What do you see us as?" He asked and waited to gauge her reaction.

She stopped in thought for a few seconds and took a small drink of her wine before answering. "A work in progress," she said. "Even though, I hope, that we're maybe closer to complete than anything else," she admitted. "I haven't had a relationship in a while, Draco, and my 'courtship', I guess you could call it, was never like this with my previous partners." He furrowed his brows at that and she noticed. "I'm not saying it in a bad way," she assured him. "Merlin, I wish everyone would try and start a relationship the way you do," she smiled and the corner of his lips twitched up and he made eye contact with her. "I just want to be careful between us," she explained. "And that's why we're a work in progress, because I believe that you feel the same way."

He nodded at her statement and couldn't believe how much her reasoning matched his own. He took a drink of his wine and then looked over at her. "So if someone were to ask what we were to each other, what would you say?" He asked.

"Do you mean what I would call you?" Hermione asked and he nodded. "What would you want me to call you?" She asked.

Normally, he hated being put on the spot with questions and this one was a rather tough one to answer. When he had gone out with Astoria, they had more or less been pushed together by friends and family and automatically become a couple and referred to each other as such. Other than that, Draco hadn't ever been in a proper relationship again and now with Hermione, things were turning out to be more complicated than he thought they would be. "Well…" He started and shifted his eyes. "We treat each other like a couple."

"We do go out a lot," she agreed.

He nodded. "We kiss too," he added and looked at her. "I don't think it's common between friends to kiss as much as we do," he chuckled.

"That's a good point," she laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "So that means…"

"I guess it means you've got yourself a boyfriend, Granger."

"I guess it does."

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 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm going to throw a cheeky warning at the start of this chapter. Remember: it's M for a reason ;)**

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Three glasses of wine and an empty cheese platter later, Draco stood in Hermione's kitchen, leaning back against one of the counters with his hands in his pockets and watched as she dried off the plate she'd put the cheese and crackers on after insisting on washing it as soon as they'd finished. Her kitchen was just as normal as any other person's but with little touches that Draco picked up on that made it _hers_. The tea towels hanging from the oven door handle had small illustrated books on them, there was a watering can by the window with a few flowers coming from the top which he'd found curious at first — _"I think you're confused as to what a watering can's purpose is, Granger."_ — and there were an assortment of pictures, magnets and notes stuck on the fridge. "You could have a gallery with the amount of pictures you have all over the place," he commented and walked to the fridge to look at the different pictures.

She picked up one of her book covered tea towels to wash her hands and laughed at his comment. "I could, actually."

Draco looked at one picture of her with who he knew to be her parents (what other middle aged man and woman would she pose for a photo with?) and he looked back at her, "How are your parents?" He asked.

"They're going well," Hermione nodded with a smile. "I don't get to see them as often as I would like but whenever I do, everything's always good news," she said.

"Where was this picture taken?" He asked since it was on the end of what seemed to be a pier looking out at the ocean.

"On the Brighton Pier," Hermione answered. "That was taken…" She thought for a second, "Five years ago, I believe. Mid-July for my mum's birthday."

"That's nice," he said and realised that he had no pictures of him and his mother from the last ten years. "Is Brighton a place you visit often?"

"No, that was my first and only time being there," Hermione said. "It was really a lovely place, I want to go back sometime in the future."

"I've never been," he commented and then looked at another picture. "Bringing in the new century?" He asked with a chuckle as in the picture, Hermione was wearing novelty 'year 2000' glasses, grinning and with her arm around Ron and Harry, both of them with their own novelty glasses on.

"Yeah… I don't remember much of that night, I'll admit," she laughed. "Although it was eight years ago."

"Stick with that excuse, Granger," Draco snorted.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "What did you do that night, _if_ you remember," she teased.

"Ah, that night myself and Blaise drank ourselves into a stupor, wholly believing the world would end and that we should make the most of it."

"You weren't one of _those_ people, were you?"

"I sure was, Granger," Draco chuckled. "Ever the pessimist you see."

"I do see. Weren't you disappointed when you woke up the next morning," she joked.

"Of course I was. Though it may have been attributed by the extreme hangover," he laughed and she did too. He really liked making her laugh and he liked even more watching her laugh; he only wished he was humorous enough to stir that sort of reaction in her often. "So, are you going to show me any more of your photo gallery?" He asked.

"You want to see them?" She asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Granger, they seem to be a big part of your life. Of course I want to see them," he said and didn't add the fact that he was quite a nosy person as well as the fact he wanted to know more about her from the years he almost forgot of her existence.

"Follow me then," she said and he did as he was told and followed her out of the kitchen and down the hall. "My parents got these taken when I was four and they insisted on making me have a copy to hang up in here," she smiled at the larger picture frame she stopped in front of. The photo was visibly dated but professionally taken and featured Hermione's parents sitting down smiling at the camera, while a very small Hermione stood between them with a grin of crooked buck-toothedness wearing a white sundress with her wild hair held back with a bright yellow headband.

"You haven't changed a bit," he teased her which made her scoff and he looked at her parents in the picture too. Comparing them in his mind with the picture of them in the kitchen, he saw they'd aged easily and still had the same smiles in each photograph. "It's nice," he said of the picture and followed her again down to the next door and he realised it was the bedroom. He reserved a teasing comment and followed her into the room. He didn't know what he had expected her bedroom to look like, but it wasn't what he would have pictured it if he'd ever thought of it. Her bed stood beneath a window with garish purple curtains and two mismatched side tables were at either side, both with various picture frames on. There was a door to the left which he assumed was the ensuite and next to that was another sliding door that was partially open for him to see it was a small wardrobe. Her bedroom was very lived-in and it was the small things that made him know it was hers — the stack of books on the floor that were sitting next to the already filled bookcase against the wall, a large painting of a sunflower on one wall, and a small vanity table with a number of different products on top of it in front of its mirror.

"There's some more photos here," Hermione said and walked to her bed and perched on the side and gestured her hand to the picture frames on the side table closest to her.

He walked over and picked one up. "I'm guessing these photographs mean the most to you," he mused as he looked at the photo of her holding a small newborn in her arms in a sterile white room of St. Mungo's.

"Yes, they do," she nodded. "That's James a couple of hours after he was born," she smiled.

"It's a nice picture," he complimented and looked once more at the smile on her face in the picture then placed it back in its spot. He looked at the other one on that side table and saw it was one from their younger years of Hogwarts and had her with her arms around Harry and Ron. He didn't feel the need to pick that up, and wandered around the other side of her bed. He did feel slightly hesitant but it wasn't as if he was rummaging through her things without her permission. The first picture he picked up from the new side table he was at, rendered him speechless. His lips parted slightly and he vaguely heard her laugh softly. "Granger…" He said and looked at her real-life form and saw her turn to face him on the other side of the bed. She had an embarrassed blush on her cheeks and she crawled across the bed that did nothing to dampen the desire that had spiked for her after seeing the picture. He looked back down at it again to look at every feature on her. She must have been at a formal event and had an arm around her dad's waist but he completely ignored him from the picture. She was wearing a long black dress, fitted at the waist and that hugged every curve of her body. His eyes paid particular attention to her breasts in the picture too and he placed the frame down and looked at her kneeling on the bed.

"I take it you like that picture then?" She said with a nervous smile.

"I more than bloody like that picture," Draco said and stepped forward so his legs hit the bed and he gathered her face in his hands and pulled her lips to his to kiss her. She knelt up and wrapped her arms around his waist and their fronts pressed together as he kissed her. The soft noises she made was enough to drive him mad and their lips parted when she sat back on her thighs and looked up at him, leaving her hands on his waist. He felt like his eyes would burn a hole in hers from the intensity he was looking at her and watched her pupils dilate before she reached her hand up to grab the front of his shirt and pull him forwards. His lips met hers again as he pressed his hands against the bed beside her and kissed her hungrily. She'd curled her fingers in the fabric of his shirt and stroked her tongue against his bottom lip and he eagerly reciprocated the advance.

He felt her fingers pull at his shirt and he didn't realise she'd been unbuttoning it until he felt her cool palm against his chest and his eyes opened in surprise. She'd sensed the pause in the kiss and opened her eyes too to look up at him and he could have moaned at the look she gave him. "It's alright, Draco," she murmured to him and leaned up to kiss the corner of his mouth. He didn't need much persuasion and he got his arms out of the sleeves of his shirt and let it fall to the ground. He lifted one knee up onto the bed then and his own hands went to the bottom of her blouse and lifted it up. He didn't kiss her straight away once he let her top fall from his hands and he looked her straight in the eye. He'd never have anticipated this happening even though he may have hoped something along the lines of this would have happened sooner rather than later for them. He felt her hand up on his cheek and for once, he didn't feel the need to avert his eyesight somewhere else in the room. "Just…" She said quietly and he watched her cheeks flush. "Not all the way, okay?" She asked shyly.

"Anything you want," Draco nodded and kissed her once more. It was softer than before and he felt her try to harden the kiss, but his tongue and his lips coaxed her into a slower rhythm while his hands slid up from her waist, to her ribs, to the clasp of her bra on her back. He parted their lips and looked down at her as he unclipped her bra and slowly pulled the garment off her so it could join their tops on the floor. His jaw slackened at the sight of her bare torso to him and he put his hands on her arms to help move her towards the middle of the bed so she could lay more comfortably. As he knelt above her, his hands wandered down again and he straddled her thighs; his hands started at her waist and moved towards her belly button, over her soft flesh to rest just underneath her breasts. He couldn't avert his eyes and he ran his hand over her stomach again, noticing how it was softer than Astoria's had been all those years ago, but he didn't mind at all, in fact, he liked that Hermione had a slight curve to her front.

"Draco…" She mumbled and he looked up at her to see her expression of embarrassment as she put her hands on his. "I d—"

"You're beautiful," he told her honestly and as he looked her in the eyes, he could see her believe him. He ducked his head down and shuffled back a bit on her thighs so he could press his lips to her stomach and kiss where she'd been embarrassed for him to look at. Her soft moan was music to his ears and all the encouragement he needed as he trailed his lips up to her breasts which he cupped in his hands and had a hard time forming coherent thought over. It had been years since he'd touched a woman so intimately and he was glad that he could with Hermione — looking at her face was all the confirmation he needed on that front. Her lips were parted and her eyes fluttered shut as he cupped the weight of her breasts in his hands and let his thumbs brush across her nipples which had hardened from his touch. He lowered his head once more and acted on his desire to kiss her there, and ghosted his lips around one nipple before taking the peak into his mouth and letting his tongue do more work. That work seemed to be good as her hands immediately came up to his head to thread her fingers in his hair. He opened his eyes and just managed to look up and see her head tilt back against the mattress as she gave a breathy moan and he switched his mouth's attention to her other breast.

The pull on his hair was the confirmation he desired from her and with every shaky breath she intake and every quiet moan she let out, he knew he was doing the right thing. His hand resumed its fondling on her now neglected breast and he used his thumb to spread the moisture his mouth had left on her nipple. A sharp tug on his hair made him take his lips off of her and look at her face for a split second before she pulled him up to kiss him properly. She kissed him eagerly and it turned desperate between them both until she slowed down and he let himself settle against her. Her breasts pressed to his chest and his hips were against hers too and it took all his willpower not to rock against her. "That's amazing," she murmured when he put his hand between them to squeeze her breast again and stimulate her nipple. "You're amazing."

"Look who's talking…" Draco murmured and kissed her lips again, coaxing his tongue against hers. He didn't know how long they lay like that — pressed against each other, lips barely parting, his hands alternating on her breasts with her moans and their breathing being the only noise in the room. He was in complete bliss and when she placed her hands on his cheeks and gently pushed him back from their kiss, he knew it was coming to an end. That didn't keep the grins off of their faces however, and when he rolled onto his side next to her on the bed he let out a satisfied sigh. He was still incredibly turned on but he turned his head to look at her and his need didn't even matter anymore as she seemed to be the most important thing to him at that moment.

He rest his arm out on the bed and she moved closer to his side. He had never been one to cuddle but he didn't mind just then and even pulled her closer. His arm wrapped around her and his hand rest on her bare breast and he lazily ran his finger around her still hardened nipple. "Draco, that…" She breathed and looked up at him. "Thank you," she told him genuinely.

"Any time, Hermione," he told her and his lips curved into a smile and then he gently pressed a kiss to her lips. "Any time."

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 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Terribly sorry about the length of time between updates. I know, I know it's too long but real life is hitting me like a tonne of bricks.**

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Concentrating on what Hermione was actually saying was proving a difficult task for Draco. He sat across from her at their usual table in front of the coffee stand in the Ministry atrium, watching her open her third sugar stick to put in her coffee, and could only concentrate on the movement of her lips, _not_ what was coming out of them. He noticed her look up from her drink and stop talking and realised she must have asked him a question. "Yes," he answered, sure that it would suffice.

"Right, then I'll expect the money in my bank by tomorrow."

"Wait, _what_?" Draco asked in confusion and furrowed his brows, not caring that he'd blown his cover of pretending he was listening to her.

Hermione rolled her eyes and scoffed a laugh. "You just agreed to give me all of the galleons in your bank. You know, Malfoy, I thought you were intelligent enough to listen to what I was staying, not just stare at me like a mindless baboon."

Draco chuckled. He should have known she would have seen right through him the moment his eyes drifted to her mouth. When in private over the last week, if his eyes made that journey down to the curve of her lips, it always ended up in a thorough snogging session, leaving her in a flushed state and babbling on about nonsense afterwards to distract herself while he sat back with a rather satisfied smile on his face. "You should take it as a compliment, Granger," he drawled.

"I'd rather capture your attention with what I'm actually saying," she joked but blushed nonetheless as she caught onto his meaning. Since he visited her home the previous week and the two had officially commenced their relationship, they had started to meet up much more regularly, always having coffee breaks together every day and he had visited her home every second day. Hermione still stayed adamant in taking it slow for their physical relationship, and since that one night last week, she'd kept her clothes firmly on (but was rather adept at unbuttoning his work shirts at lightening speed when she got _very_ involved in kissing him — he would _not_ complain). It had continued to surprise him just how alright he was with not having sex. His previous relationships had sex involved from the get go and he began to realise maybe that's why they had never worked out like he thought they would have, but that was purely him.

 _"I like to think of relationships as a pyramid," Hermione started to explain to him after he asked curiously why she wanted to go slow and, thankfully, she hadn't taken it as pressure from him which is not what he'd been implying in the first place. "At the bottom is getting to know each other, the very basis. It's what keeps the pyramid strong," she told him. He stared at her face and the corner of his lip curled up slightly as he noticed her cheeks were more red than usual, most likely due to the few glasses of wine that she'd been drinking while he had beer. "The base of a pyramid is the most important part since it forms the whole structure of everything. Getting to know each other when you start a relationship should be the founding blocks of it all. Well, for me it is," she said._

 _"I never thought of it that way," Draco said._

 _"Mm," she hummed. "To me, the bottom is most important, and learning what makes up the other person seems crucial to me if I'm going to be in a relationship with them. And as the pyramid grows thinner at the top, the very pinnacle, to me, is the physical aspect." He noticed that her flush turned deeper and she gave him an embarrassed smile._

 _"The sex," he stated and she laughed with a nod._

 _"Yes, the sex. And I think if any relationship I'm in starts off with sex, it just flips the whole pyramid upside down," she said and made a triangle shape with her thumbs and forefingers and flipped it so the tip of her fingers pointed downwards. "And an upside down pyramid is an unstable pyramid," she said and untangled her fingers and looked up at him. "And I don't really want our relationship to be more unstable than it has the potential to be." She looked up at him with that statement and he smiled and agreed. Their fiery personalities still clashed and even though they now were in a relationship didn't change the fact that they got into petty fights every now and then — and he_ still _made a face when watching her make herself a coffee which always made her scoff and argue with him._

 _"I like your thinking, Granger," Draco said. "Though I never thought of it that way myself and I've never put that into practice, I do think that it's a good idea."_

 _"I know it is. That's why I told you," she smiled smugly and took another sip of her wine._

"So what was it that you were saying?" Draco asked her, knowing he should pay her the proper attention now.

Hermione laughed lightly and the corner of his lips curled slightly into a smile. "I was asking you if you'd figured out your free dates for our trip to France," she told him again.

Their trip to meet with the French Minister of Education and Beauxbatons' headmistress was becoming a planned prospect for the two of them instead of a passing 'that may be a good idea' thought. "I have a list up in my office. Come with me when we're finished here."

Hermione nodded and they sat in peaceful silence for a few minutes. He looked out at the atrium, watching people rush around, some take their time, some stop and talk to each other, everyone on their own mission to get somewhere or do something. He turned back to her when she spoke, "People are getting suspicious about us."

He raised his eyebrow and took a sip of his coffee. "It was bound to happen, was it not? We've been doing this," he gestured his hand between them, "For quite some time. People are quite aware that we're not from the same department." At first he'd been quite wary of what people would think of Hermione and his extra time spent together as not many people knew the project they were working on. While quite a lot of people weren't nosy and couldn't care less about who they were and why they were spending time together, he knew that there was a fair share of people who would assume many incorrect things about them and spread rumours like wildfire. He wasn't too worried about the rumours now that himself and Hermione were actually in a relationship, but beforehand, he wouldn't have wanted those whispers surrounding them.

She chewed on her bottom lip and nodded, her finger dancing around the top of her coffee cup. "But what will people think?" She asked and looked up at him.

He bit his cheek to keep from getting angry, especially in this situation, but he knew by the way she sat up slightly straighter that she'd seen the flash in his eyes. "They'll think that we're two bloody adults in a relationship, Granger. No one gives a shit about what happened over ten years ago, I'll try not to ruin your reputation."

"Malfoy, you very well know that I wasn't talking about that," Hermione defended herself with an equally hard gaze. "Work relationships aren't looked upon nicely here, and you know that," she told him. He did in fact know that, as a couple that worked in his department had recently divorced and caused quite the ruckus between themselves, their clients, and the rest of their work peers. However, he and Hermione weren't married or anywhere near close to that.

"I'm sure if this ends then we can be mature about it," Draco said.

"I know, but…" Hermione trailed off and looked down at her coffee cup. He remembered that she'd acted similarly when she'd told him about Potter asking about them back at New Year's, and he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Granger, we're close to being thirty years old. If your good buddies can't accept that you're in an adult relationship, then perhaps you've befriended the wrong people."

Hermione looked up at him then and he could see her frustration from being caught out. "It isn't that they won't accept it, they don't rule my life as much as you like to believe."

"Oh, I don't believe that they do, Granger," Draco drawled. "If they tried to exercise any control over your life, I'm positive that Potter wouldn't have been able to have those kids." He watched as her lips curled up into a tiny smile, betraying the stubborn persona she was trying to show. "Come on, Granger. If Potter and Weasley aren't happy with your decision to date me, then what's going to happen? Hell will open up to drag you into it?" He joked. "I think you're severely overestimating what they will think if they find out," he added in a less-joking manner. "I don't know what they said to you about your previous relationships and I don't really want to know either, but don't you think they've grown up since then? And if they're really that worked up about who you want to see, then I know _I'd_ be concerned," he chuckled.

He hadn't looked at her until then and was pleased to see that she was smiling, but still looking down at her drink. "I know it's silly to think that, Malfoy," she admitted. "You're right though."

"I could hear that more than once," he drawled and stood up from his chair. "Get your arse up, Miss-Head-of-Your-Department. You've went five minutes over your break time, your employees could be causing a riot and you'd never know."

She snorted and stood up too. "I need to get your notes from your office first."

"Ah, maybe you'll be another five minutes late then," he smirked and they began walking to the lifts.

Hermione had a blush on her cheeks and shook her head as she walked besides him. "I'm getting the notes from your office and that's _it_ ," she whispered to him.

"Mm-hm," Draco continued to smirk and the doors to one lift opened when they got close and he walked inside with her. Several other people piled in and he and Hermione stood at the lift's back wall and he casually put his arm behind her and since they were packed so closely next to each other, no one would have even known. _Especially_ because no one was actually turning to look at them. When a few other people started chatting to each other, he leaned down, his lips close to her ear. "I haven't kissed you in quite some time, Granger," he whispered and rest his hand on the small of her back. "And I'd like to remedy that problem quite soon."

She smiled and laughed quietly and turned her head to look up at him, her nose almost bumping into his jaw. "Maybe it is a good thing you have your own office then, hm?" She whispered back and he was surprised at how — even though there was no way anyone else in the lift would have heard them — she had said it. The lift stopped at the floor below where they would get out, and a couple of people filed out, then the elevator was on its way up once more. When it slowed at their desired floor, Hermione pushed off the back wall and as she did, let her hand graze down his side and in a rather bold move he hadn't been expecting, turned her hand and gave him a soft pinch on the bottom, politely said, "Excuse me," to the people in front of them, and strode out of the lift. Thank Merlin he'd managed to gain his senses back and was only two steps behind her as he left the lift too.

He caught up to her as she stopped at the door of his office, and he opened it with a flick of his wand and followed her inside. "You'll pay for that one," he smirked and closed the door as soon as she walked in too.

It was just their luck that he had always kept a silencing charm on his room as Hermione couldn't contain her laugh when he returned the pinch on her own bottom and put his hands on her waist to pull her in and try his hardest to snog the living daylights out of her.

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 **A/N: I know it was short but I hope it was okay! I've got a few ideas of what to include in my next chapter, unfortunately this one had me stumped for quite some time before I smashed it out. Please review, gives me all the motivation in the world :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I know! It's been too long!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot**

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It had been quite a while since Hermione had felt such addicting swoops in her stomach brought on by the touch of another person. It had been almost two years since she'd last been in a relationship, and recovering from that, she had convinced herself that there wasn't _too_ much to miss about being close — physically close that is — with another, despite the inevitable yearning she had for it; she was human after all. Her job had been a large determinant in keeping her mind off the occasional memories and fantasies her mind took her on, but being here now, being seated on Draco's thighs, was enough to mentally chastise herself for ever thinking that she could go long periods of time without _this_. This being a hungry mouth against hers, a delving tongue to tangle with her own, and large hands roaming all over her body, from her shoulder blades, to the backs of her thighs, to rest on her waist underneath her shirt.

She shivered and let out a soft, involuntary moan when Draco's fingers brushed lightly along the side of her ribs, which was always a sensitive spot for her. While she very much enjoyed kissing Draco, and thought frequently of the week before when he'd lain her on the bed and practically _worshipped_ her breasts, she hadn't expected to wind up on his lap in such a frenzied kiss when he'd came to her house earlier in the afternoon. She wouldn't complain though, not at all. It was the weekend after all, and she had been doing nothing at all except tidying her house when he'd arrived unannounced half an hour earlier. They'd chatted on the couch for some time and while he spoke to her, her attention had drifted from the words coming out of his mouth, to solely his mouth. And then his hands. And then the way his finger had scratched the corner of his mouth. It had been that movement that broke her as she moved forward and pressed her lips to his and ran her fingers through his hair.

She could have put money on the fact that he immediately responded to the kiss and put his hands on her hips, twisting as he tried to face her on the couch to kiss her properly. When her torso ached, she decided it was best to remedy their awkward seating position by sitting herself down onto his lap. The surprised, but deep moan that he made shot straight through her. That's where she was at present; seated on his lap, now with his hands cradling her bum over the rather unflattering tracksuit pants she'd been wearing (it was Saturday in her defence, who wore proper clothes on the weekend?), and with her hands threading through his hair, tugging him closer to her. His hot breath mingled with hers when they pulled their lips apart, just as breathless as each other. She moved her hands from his hair down to his cheeks, and rubbed her thumbs across the dash of red colour on his cheekbones.

Try as she may, she couldn't stop herself from taking his bottom lip between her teeth and biting gently, and when he groaned in satisfaction, his hips rose slightly from the couch just as she rocked herself down. A soft noise sounded from the back of her throat from feeling the hardness she'd pushed against. All because of _her_. Her hands dropped from his hair to his shoulders and their lips parted as she took in a shaky breath, overwhelmed by the feelings and heat between them. ' _Too long_ …' she thought to herself as she pushed her hips back down against his and felt the delicious curl in her insides and warmth between her legs. His fingers, long and firm, gripped her hips tighter as he lifted his backside from the couch and pushed himself against her and clumsily pressed his lips to her cheek after missing her lips. She could tell it had been too long for him too and turned her head to kiss him back.

"Hermione…" He said breathlessly and the sound of his deep voice, husky from desire and their kiss, made her lower stomach curl in excitement. She kissed the corner of his mouth to still allow him to speak, but as she flicked her tongue out against his lip, his hands dropped to curl into the backs of her thighs and he let his head fall against the back of the couch. "If you keep going…" He trailed off and she knew what he meant. If they kept going like this it wouldn't be longer before shirts came off, followed by pants, followed by underwear. As much as she would love to continue, to _feel_ him, she knew that if their first time together was on a couch, it wouldn't be as special as she wanted and thought it should be. Maybe she was being unrealistic… She pulled her lips back from the corner of his mouth and let out a soft sheepish laugh as he looked back at her in a state of complete disarray. Dark, dilated pupils stared back at her, a flush adorned his cheekbones and his hair was more messy than he would ever allow himself to be seen in public with. He smiled back at her though, and she felt his hands drop from her thighs and the welcoming heat of his large palms was instantly lost. It didn't take her long to decide that she definitely wanted those hands on her again. Properly. With no barriers of clothing between them.

"I don't know what came over me just then," she admitted with a soft laugh and her smile grew when his did too.

"I have no clue either, Granger, but feel free to do that more often," Draco chuckled and ran a hand through his hair then down the side of his face. He looked down between them and she noticed that she was still sitting on his lap, quite firmly against a certain part of him.

Hermione realised and quickly got off, "Sorry! I'm sure that's not the best place for me to be right now," she laughed and he agreed with a smile and shifted on the couch.

"Where's the bathroom?" He asked and got up and she had to focus _very_ hard on keeping her eyes firmly on his own.

"Down the hall at the end. Or you can use the one in my bedroom. No funny business," she warned.

"Just splashing some cold water on myself," he assured her with a smirk and strode off out of the living room. When he left, Hermione leant back against the couch and let out a long breath, willing her heart to calm down from its erratic pace, and closed her eyes and breathed steadily. She did so for a minute or so before the noise of her fireplace startled her to open her eyes and sit forward.

"Ginny!" She said in surprise when she saw her friend step out from the fireplace and dust off her jeans.

"Hi stranger," Ginny smiled and walked over to her and Hermione stood up and tried to brush down her hair, hoping it wasn't sticking out more wildly than usual after Draco's fingers' exploration a few minutes earlier. "What have you been doing?" She asked.

"Oh, you know, not a lot…Not a lot at all. Just some housework and the likes," Hermione said, trying to sound flippant and not like she'd practically been grinding quite carelessly against Draco Malfoy on her couch not five minutes ago. Although Ginny knew that they'd been on a date together, Hermione hadn't told her of any of the progress they'd made, or that they were officially a couple.

"Uh-huh…" Ginny said with an unusual smile as she noticed her odd behaviour. "I just came around to ask you—"

"Granger?" A shout came from the hallway. "There's no bloody towels in your bathroom, I'm wet."

"Just a moment!" Hermione called back with wide eyes and ignored Ginny's widened eyes.

"Malfoy's showering here now?" Ginny asked quietly and laughed at Hermione's horrified expression.

"No!" She was quick to deny. "He was cooling himself off, we—" She cut herself off, not wanting to dig herself a hole. "Be quiet," she warned Ginny and quickly walked out of the living room and straight to the linen cupboard. When she closed the cupboard, she almost went into cardiac arrest seeing Draco right in front of her with a soaking wet hands, face and shirt-neck. "Here," Hermione said and thrust the towel at him and as he covered his face she leaned in close. "You need to go, Ginny's here and she's not going to leave unless I give her—"

By this time, Draco had lowered the towel and smirked when he looked over Hermione's shoulder. "I hardly recognised you by yourself without Potter by your side," he drawled.

"And I hardly recognised you without a sour expression on your face, so there we go," Ginny retorted and laughed at the look of mortification on Hermione's face. "This makes my job a lot easier — I came over to ask if you'd like to come for dinner tonight and invite Malfoy along too, but I can hit two birds with one stone here and ask you both."

There was a silence between the three before Draco broke it. "I don't know whether to be more shocked over the fact you've invited me for dinner, or the fact that Granger's jaw _may_ hit the floor in a few seconds," he joked and received a hit in the side from Hermione.

"We'd love to," Hermione said, straightening up and fully facing Ginny.

"I wouldn't."

"Shut up, Draco."

—

Draco had left Hermione's shortly after Ginny's invitation for dinner. The redhead hadn't stayed long after giving the invite, and he could tell from the look on Hermione's face that she was glad at that. He wasn't fussed about the whole issue as he knew there was no reason for Potter — both Potters, really — to be angry at the fact that he and Hermione were now dating. He was a different man and Harry and his wife knew that, just as Hermione did, and he knew that his past was not an issue between them. He knew that there was going to be an awkwardness between them all though, there was no denying that. He had no doubt in his mind that Potter was skeptical, as was his wife, but he also knew that they both trusted Granger's' judgement.

Although he knew the dinner would be casual and laid back, he didn't dress any differently to any other dinner he would attend, and ironed a white shirt and some trousers to wear, and sought out a tie and some cufflinks too. Just after six, Draco exited Hermione's fireplace into her living room, expecting to see her waiting, but all that was there to greet him was her cat sitting on the coffee table. "Taurus," he murmured to the animal as he walked past and scratched its ear. He waited a few minutes, then announced his presence by calling out her name. He barely heard her response and curiosity got the better of him and he walked out of the living room and down the hall to her bedroom where the light was on.

He pushed open the door the rest of the way and saw Hermione sitting on the edge of her bed, dressed for the evening, but with her elbows resting on her knees and her face in her hands. His stomach dropped as it was an all too familiar position he found his mother in during her more difficult times. He had no difficulty in walking to Hermione's side and sitting next to her, placing his hand between her shoulder blades, as he had done more times than he could count with his mother. "Granger, what's wrong?" He asked in concern

"I'm sorry," Hermione responded, her voice shaking slightly as she raised her head from her hands. He noticed that her hands were trembling in a much more noticeable way than they had been when he'd first noticed it in her office days ago, and he reached down and took them both within his own hands. He knew that even if they weren't in a relationship, and if he had found her in this state, say, months previous, he wouldn't have had any hardship in doing what he was doing now. From his experiences with Narcissa, he had no problem with trying to remedy this type of situation.

"You don't need to explain," he said to her softly and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand, trying to contain her trembling. "Deep breaths…"

Hermione nodded and followed his instruction and he watched as her eyelids fluttered close and she breathed in deeply through her nose and out through her mouth. "I really am sorry," she apologised moments later and looked at him. "I-I don't know why I've gotten like this, it doesn't normally happen over things like this… I was just thinking about tonight and then it started making me think of other things and I-I didn't want to, I didn't—" She fumbled over her words and he squeezed her hand gently.

"You don't need to say," he told her, and understood that she'd just had a spike in anxiety over the impending dinner they'd be having which almost acted as a chain reaction for panic. He didn't blame her as he understood why she would feel nervous. Anyone with the power of sight could see how much the Potters meant to Granger, and Draco was mature enough to know that they mattered a great deal to her, and that it might not be as easy as she'd wanted it to be to admit that they were in fact dating. "Come on, stand up," he said gently, and stood up from the bed and she followed suit. He tugged on her hand softly and walked her out of her bedroom and down the hall.

"What are we doing?" She asked in confusion.

"Walking."

Hermione furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Because it'll help you calm down," he told her and turned to walk back down the hallway again. He thought back to the more difficult days his mother experienced, and how there had been many nights that he'd walked her through the Manor, back and forth, to let her gather her bearings enough to deal with her pain. He'd also taken her outside to walk through the garden, even if it was the middle of the night, or if it was close to freezing. He knew fresh air did wonders for clearing the mind, no matter the time and that getting one's heart rate up in a way that _wasn't_ from panic or anxiety, helped the body cope and calm down. Five laps of Hermione's hallway later, she came to a stop besides him and let out a long sigh. "Better?" He asked her.

She nodded and her cheeks were red. "I try not to let people see me when I get like that…" She admitted. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"It's alright," Draco assured her and put his hands in his pockets. "You're fine now," he said it almost as a question and looked at her. She appeared much calmer and nodded in response to his unspoken question and he looked down at the floor between them and noticed she lacked shoes. "I'll go wait in the living room," he said to give her some time to freshen up and finish getting ready. She seemed to appreciate that and nodded before turning to go back to her room while he split off to the living room. Draco sat down on the couch and pushed the cat away when it tried to climb on his lap; the last thing he needed was cat fur all over his clothes. He scratched behind its ear at a reasonable distance and waited patiently for Hermione to return. He was almost positive that the time she spent in her room to finish getting ready was also for persuading herself not to show her embarrassment over what had happened. It was just a rather unfortunate thing that Draco had to deal with both personally, and with his mother, over the years for many reasons. The war took pieces from them all and it was no surprise that even Hermione, no matter how confidently she stood or how calm she appeared, was just as fragile as anyone else after what she experienced.

Five minutes later, she appeared in the living room archway and he stood up and fully took in what she was wearing. It wasn't anything special or over the top, as the dinner they were going to truly was just a spur of the moment, informal event, but she still looked lovely in her jeans and jumper that sat over a royal blue polo shirt, its collar poking out from the neck of the jumper. "Looking good," he said with a small smile and was glad to see that she reciprocated it. He knew that those attacks were exhausting — physically and mentally — and she was keeping up a good front.

"You look like you're ready to go into a meeting," Hermione humoured and walked forward, lifting Taurus off the coffee table and setting him on the floor. "Actually, it is like that, isn't it?" She laughed softly.

"I'm not worried," he shrugged. "Actually, what time do Potter's kids go to bed?"

"Not at this time!" She smiled wider.

"Okay, I retract my earlier statement. I am worried," he joked and her genuine laugh was like music to his ears.

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 **A/N: Next chapter is coming quicker, I promise! I'm** **halfway through writing it; it was meant to carry on in this chapter, but I owe you guys an update, and both work singularly (I hope). Please review, means the world to me, hope you enjoyed!**


	17. Chapter 17 (Part 1)

**A/N: I know, it's been too long... This is half of the chapter I was planning to write but I owe an update, so the second half of this chapter will go up when it is finished. Hope you enjoy, please review, it means the world to me!**

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"Aunt Hermione!"

As soon as Draco and Hermione had set foot out of the fireplace after taking the floo to the Potters home, Hermione was immediately bombarded by a boy with jet black hair. Draco tried to keep a grimace from his face as he stood to the side and out of reach from her and the boy who was hugging her tightly around the waist.

"Daddy took me on the broom _again_ and we got's to go higher this time, I touched the top of the tree!" The boy, who Draco remembered was named James, said breathlessly to Hermione who had now crouched down to be more at his level.

"You did?!" She grinned. "Well I hope you were very safe!"

"That's what mummy said too, but she had her grumpy voice on," James giggled which made Hermione laugh too and Draco snort. James looked over at him then back at Hermione, as if suddenly realising there was another human in the room. "Who are you?" James asked him.

"Draco Malfoy," he responded.

"Are you my daddy's friend?"

Draco, who couldn't be bothered responding to a six year old's questions (of which there would be many if he answered, 'not quite…'), simply nodded which seemed to appease the boy. "James, is your mummy and daddy in the kitchen?" Hermione asked him.

"Uh-huh," James nodded and grabbed Hermione's hand. "We're havin' a big chicken tonight!"

Hermione stood up and turned slightly to give Draco a smile which he returned half-heartedly and then followed her through the unfamiliar home to a large kitchen. What he first thought would be easy, if not a bit awkward at first, was turning out to be a lot more out of his comfort zone than he'd once thought. Following Hermione through the home of the boy — now man — he once hated, following that man's _son_ through the halls seemed all too surreal. Plus the fact he was also following Hermione Granger; his girlfriend, which was still awfully strange to say. He could only scoff at what he imagined his father would say were he to know.

"You made it!" Ginny's voice broke him from his thoughts and made him focus on what was happening. She was standing at the counter chopping up vegetables by the looks of it, whilst Harry was sitting at the table with their newborn in his arms.

"Of course we did," Hermione smiled and walked to Harry and gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Let's see you," she said to the baby and lifted him into her arms, adopting a comfortable cradling position and went to greet Ginny properly.

"Nice to see you, Malfoy," Harry said, standing up from his chair and he came to shake Draco's hand.

"Potter," he nodded, not knowing what else to say. He watched Hermione who was nuzzling her nose against Albus' and then watched James run around the room with a toy car in his hand. Draco put his hands deep into his pockets and cleared his throat quietly, not knowing quite what to say or what to do. Never had he and Harry been in an informal environment together, and the odd number of conversations they'd had over the years was always to do with what they were doing at work.

"I bet Ginny's invite was a bit of a shock," Harry said lightheartedly.

Draco nodded and breathed a small laugh. "You could say that." He was still watching Hermione who had now turned from Ginny and was walking towards him and Harry again. "So this is the almighty Godson," he humoured when she got to them.

Both Harry and Hermione laughed at that, the latter one nodding too. "Isn't he so sweet?" She smiled at Albus and leaned down to give him a small kiss on the nose. When Albus jerked his arms about, he also screwed up his face and let out a tiny squeak which transformed into soft cries. "That's my cue," Hermione said and gently passed Albus onto his father who took him and began to rock him.

"I think a nappy change is in order," Harry said and walked out of the kitchen, shushing his newborn.

"I thought you didn't like kids?" Draco asked Hermione quietly. He'd remembered when she'd told him the reason for her and Weasley breaking up — her pregnancy scare — and had automatically correlated that to her not being fond of children in general.

"I like them," Hermione shrugged. "Only when I can hand them back when they're not being so cute anymore," she joked with a smile. She reached out and put her hand on his wrist and gave him a gentle tug to walk with her. He followed and her hand dropped, and they both sat on bar stools at the counter, across from Ginny who was now chopping up some carrots.

"Thank you for inviting me," Draco said to the redhead.

"It wasn't an issue," Ginny shrugged and wiped her hands off then went to the fridge. "Wine? Beer?" She asked.

"Beer would be nice," Draco nodded. He didn't think he'd be able to get through this without some alcohol in his system. The bottle was placed in front of him and he twisted the cap off and took a swig. "Nice house," he said, looking around. It seemed like the money both Harry and Ginny had earned over the years had gone into their home and did it to accommodate practical use. Where Blaise and Pansy's money had combined to buy a modern, chic apartment, Harry and Ginny had chosen a more classic, family styled place to call home.

"It does the trick," Ginny said. "So why don't we address the elephant in the room, hm?" She suggested and looked at him and then Hermione. Draco chuckled and took a drink of his beer and knew he could get used to Ginny's abrupt statements.

He glanced over at Hermione who stood up from the stool and walked to a cupboard in the kitchen, withdrawing a wine glass. "What would that be?" She asked, though Draco knew that she had every idea what Ginny meant.

Ginny brought a wine bottle out of the fridge and opened it up, ready to pour into the glass Hermione got for herself. "Are you both an official couple now or just strangely close friends?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Granger, just answer her question," Draco rolled his eyes with a slight twitch upwards of his lips.

Hermione sighed, knowing there could be no more avoidance. "Yes, we're a couple," she told Ginny with a faint blush on her cheek. "But we haven't been for long," she added quickly.

"At the New Year's party?" Ginny asked with a smile.

"No," Draco shook his head, deciding to answer. "Not quite," he smirked at Hermione who turned away with a slight smile of her own.

"Harry thought you were," Ginny said. "I kept telling him he was wrong."

"Why was I wrong?" Harry asked, walking back into the room holding Albus once more.

"Please don't freak out, Harry," Hermione turned to him and said seriously.

Draco watched the whole interaction and decided to stay quiet. He hadn't thought that Hermione would be overly scared to tell her friends about her relationship, but from what he was witnessing now, it seemed that her nerves had caught up to her quickly. "I'm not going to freak out," Harry assured her with a smile. "I have a feeling I already know what you're going to say anyway. Regardless of what anyone may think, I'm not _that_ dense," he chuckled.

"Could have fooled me, Potter," Draco drawled.

Hermione chose to ignore him and only look at Harry, but Ginny was the one to speak first, "I told you they weren't together at the New Year's party," she said smugly.

"You weren't?" Harry asked. "Right…Wait, _are_ you a couple at all?"

"That's why people think you're dense," Draco joked.

"Draco," Hermione said and looked at him. The look in her eyes made him be quiet, as for _her_ it wasn't a time for jokes. He gave her a little encouraging smile and nodded his head slightly. "We are a couple, Harry," she told her best friend.

Harry just smiled and shrugged a shoulder. "See? Told you I wouldn't freak out. Now, I really need some beer."


End file.
